The Vietnamese shopping center in Bakersfield dubbed “Little Saigon” was foreclosed on earlier this month, reported the Bakersfield Californian here. The photo of Little Saigon Plaza, right, is taken from the paper’s web site.
This is the second foreclosure effected on San Jose developer William Lee, a Vietnamese with non-Vietnamese spelling for his name. Another of Lee’s project, V Heritage Plaza, also in Bakersfield, was foreclosed on June 4.
The lender on Little Saigon Plaza, Lantzman Investments Inc. took repossession and “planned to keep Little Saigon running and even hoped to spruce it up a bit.”
At 33,000 square feet, the Little Saigon Plaza is just a normal-sized commercial building, but it is a well-known Vietnamese shopping area in California’s Central Valley.
According to the Californian, the shopping center has been suffering from a lack of customers. “Panhandling in the parking lot and prostitution in the neighborhood have been hard on business,” the paper quoted Juana Romero, the owner of a nail and hair salon who had moved there from L.A.-area Manhattan Beach.
According to the paper, William Lee owed more than $1.6 million on the Little Saigon Plaza and another $1.6 million on the V Heritage Plaza. He also faces liens and other construction claims totalling $2 million.
The paper cited Lee as saying he was close to sealing a loan that would allow him to get Little Saigon and V Heritage back.
Bakersfield is located halfway between Los Angeles and San Jose, along the 99 highway near Interstate 5, the state’s main north-south artery.
Good post! Found it doing a quick blog search about foreclosure info. Subscribed! Mark