Monrovia : Redevelopment Deal OKd

A complex deal wrapping up the two-decades-long redevelopment of Monrovia’s once-blighted East Huntington Drive corridor was approved unanimously by the City Council last week.

“This is the final key in the redevelopment of Huntington Drive,” said Donald Hopper, assistant executive director of the city’s redevelopment agency.

The agreement reached Tuesday includes the sale of 45,500 square feet of land at 201 E. Huntington Drive to Dick Hale of The Hale Corp., for $19.50 per square foot.

Hale plans to construct a 20,000-square-foot medical office building at the corner of Ivy Avenue and Huntington Drive, currently the site of Johnson Machine Service, a local business that rebuilds automotive engines.

Under the agreement, Johnson will move to part of a city-owned parcel at the corner of Ivy and Walnut avenues and build an 11,000-square-foot headquarters there. Sharing the Ivy and Walnut site with Johnson will be Bethel AME Church, which got approval from the city Tuesday to relocate there from its Duarte Road site.