Cerritos Towne Center
The Cerritos Towne Center is a retail park located in the center of Cerritos, California that combines retailing, office, and entertainment in one master project. The Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts is located within the southwestern part of the project. Cerritos High School, Cerritos City Hall, the Cerritos Sheriff Station, and the Cerritos Millennium Library are all located across the street from the Towne Center development and are sometimes collectively referred to as "Downtown Cerritos."
Built on 125 acres (0.51 km2) of former dairy farms, the future site of the Cerritos Towne Center was one of the last remnants of the city of Cerritos' agricultural past. The area, formally known as "Area Development Plan 2", bounded by State Route 91 to the north, Shoemaker Avenue to the east, 183rd Street to the south and Bloomfield Avenue to the west, was nicknamed "the Golden Triangle" by local press because of its large revenue potential. [1]
By the time the dairies moved out and the area was ready for redevelopment in the early 1980s, the Cerritos Redevelopment Agency discussed possible uses for the large plot. Housing, residential and recreational development were ruled out because the redevelopment agency decided that whatever be built in the area ought to generate tax revenue. Since 1970, a proposal floated around for a unique donut-shaped shopping center, but the idea was eventually turned down due to its closeness to the already successful Los Cerritos Center. The following year in 1971, discussions were held to feature a Polynesian cultural center complete with artificial ocean with six islands and a volcano that would erupt nightly. Neighbors with NIMBY mindsets and concern with pollution (although the developer promised the pollution would be controlled) was enough to reject the development. [2]
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