The people in Baldwin Hills don’t have a lot of options when it comes to shopping.
If you can't find the store at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza you probably won't find it in Baldwin Hills.
“I come in here every day, it is convenient and close,” said Baldwin Hills resident Darlene Harden. “This community needs this mall.”
For the first time in a long time this mall is getting a major 30 million dollar renovation from top to bottom and customers are already waiting for the dust to settle.
But Wednesday people got a sneak peek at coming attractions, when the first phase of the plaza re-development opened.
What was --, and then was not -- the Magic Johnson Theater is now the “Rave 15” with stadium seating and 3D screens. Everything moviegoers need for the opening weekend of the new Transformers movie.
The theaters have been completely transformed and now feature top-of-the-line amenities, including all-digital sound, 3-D screens and auditoriums with stadium seating for 100 to 365 seats.
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The new upgrades cost more than $12 million and took a year to build.
“We had to give viewers bigger sight, bigger sound, and new digital technology,” said Jeremy Devine, vice-president of Rave Motion Pictures.
“These are things you have to do compete, so we had to deliver,” he said.
The excitement of the new mall is also helping lift a neighborhood that has felt neglected over the years. That is important to the people in charge of the redevelopment project of the mall.
“We said we're going to bring a new theater in and re-do the mall, but I have to tell you there was a whole lot of doubt out there,” said Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza development spokesman Ken Lombard.
“But we made a promise, he said, "and we delivered.”
