By Lookout Staff
May 26, 2009 – Santa Monica’s only pawnshop will get a new lease on life if the City Council, as expected, authorizes the City Manager on Tuesday to rent part of a newly acquired building to the shop.
Angelo’s Pawn Shop – which is losing its longtime home at the Mayfair Theatre complex – will move to the property at 1334 5th Street that the City purchased to build a new Downtown public parking structure.
The council had paved the way for the pawnshop to occupy the approximately 2,300-square-foot vacant retail space when it approved an ordinance last month expanding the area Downtown that allows such establishments.
In March, the City Council had directed staff to seek occupants for the 7,500-square-foot property it was in the process of purchasing.
The pawnshop, which submitted the only proposal for the ground-floor space, met all the criteria set by the council, according to City staff.
Preference was given to “independent retailers, retailers that are already located in downtown Santa Monica but are facing expiring leases, pedestrian-oriented retailers, retailers who provide goods and services that are underrepresented in downtown Santa Monica and retailers whose goods and services provide special assistance in these economically challenging times.”
Under the lease recommended by staff, Angelo’s Pawn shop would pay $2 per square foot for a term ending December 31, 2010, when the lease would go month-to-month.
“By offering the new tenant a continuation of the lease on a month-to-month basis, the City preserves flexibility when the property is needed for public purposes,” staff wrote in its report to council.
The pawnshop was forced to move from its longtime home on Santa Monica Boulevard near 2nd Street to pave the way for the redevelopment of the landmark Mayfair Theater.
The old theater, which was battered 15 years ago in the Northridge Earthquake, will be turned into a new 34-unit apartment building with ground-floor retail behind the old façade. (“Rebirth of a Landmark,” March 19, 2008)
The move comes as pawnshops across the nation are seeing a resurgence during tough economic times.
Some 30 million Americans receive pawn loans each year, with between 70 and 80 percent of them repeat customers, according to the Pawnbrokers Association. The average loan amount is about $80.
