Merchants Lose Patience as Delays Stall Manhattan Beach Revitalization Project

Last summer, merchants were told that a project to spruce up downtown Manhattan Beach was nearing completion. That was welcome news to the business owners, who had lost patience and patrons as sidewalks were dug up and streets were blocked.

But manufacturing delays and problems with the new, blue granite tiles that line the city’s crosswalks have plagued the project, and the contractor is likely to face several thousand dollars in late fees when the job is finished this month, city officials say.

Streetscape, as the $5.3-million revitalization plan is called, was approved in concept by the City Council 2 years ago. The idea was to help downtown businesses compete with malls and to perform much-needed maintenance work on streets, sewer lines and storm drains.

Work started in January, and except for some landscaping and sign installation was completed by August--only a few weeks after the July 15 target date. But manufacturing some light fixtures and signs took longer than expected, and the granite crosswalk tiles have refused to stay put, forcing repeated street closures.

Roads remain partly blocked during repairs, and some shopkeepers say business has never been worse.

“It has killed me. The first 3 months (of construction) were OK. The second 3 months were terrible, and business is not coming back,” said Cathy Lombardi, owner of Kids’ Gear on Highland Avenue, 200 yards from an intersection still blocked by workers replacing cracked and loose tiles.

Bill Roth, owner of the Bentley’s Ltd. clothing store at Highland Avenue and Manhattan Beach Boulevard, calls the delay a “nightmare.”

“Noise and dust and dirt are not good for the retail business,” he said. “They could build a pyramid faster than this.”

Tom King, owner of Jo’s Candy on Manhattan Beach Boulevard, wants the city to pay for an advertising campaign to draw shoppers back to the area. “It’s been a bad year for everybody down here.”

Angela DuRoss, manager at Wright’s clothing store at Highland Avenue and Manhattan Beach Boulevard, says she has had to pay to have merchandise cleaned because of dust raised by workers replacing tiles.

DuRoss credits Streetscape with inspiring many of the merchants to redesign their storefronts and plant flowers. “But it’s really really unfortunate how long it’s taking,” she said. “My nerves are completely shot.”

Other shopkeepers complained that the blue-tile crosswalks look dirty and said they are not sure the face-lift was worth the money.

Glendale-based Moulder Bros. Construction will be charged $500 for each day of delay that is not caused by a condition the contractor has no control over, such as weather, said Patrick Kelly, city director of public works. Kelly said the amount will be based on an expected July 15 completion date.

But the amount owed will not be known until the project is completed and the city determines how much of the delay is the contractor’s fault, he said.

According to Jeff Chamlee, landscape architect for the project, the tiles are cracking because Moulder Bros. allowed traffic to drive over the tiles without waiting a week for the epoxy to set.

“The contractor, I think, made some compromises in trying to get the job done in a more expedient manner and made a compromise in the quality of the installation,” said Chamlee, who works for the Pasadena firm, Eriksson Peters Thoms.

Mike Sabzerou, a project engineer at Moulder Bros., acknowledged that the company felt pressured by the city and the merchants to open the streets as soon as possible, but he would not say whether the streets were opened prematurely.

Duane Beaver, the city’s assistant director of public services, said the contractor could have laid the tile in smaller sections or covered the tiles with wood boards or metal plates until the glue set.

William Bennett, a senior partner with ASL Consulting Engineers, the civil engineering company supervising the project, said the repair work was routine, considering the amount of tile laid. The project required at least 60,000 square feet of granite tiles.

“In a construction job like this, there’s a lot of volume . . . you’ll get areas that have problems,” Bennett said.

At least one merchant says the new streets are worth the trouble.

“I like the idea of having spiffy new sidewalks,” said Joe Cipolla, owner of Just Beachin’ on Manhattan Beach Boulevard. “I just have to dust more. There’s a lot worse things that could happen.”