Demolition work underway at blighted Los Angeles mall

A once-thriving retail and community hub in the San Fernando Valley is being taken apart piece by piece.

Earlier this week, demolition crews began tearing down Valley Plaza in North Hollywood, once touted as the largest shopping center on the West Coast.

In August,

the Los Angeles Board of Building and Safety Commissioners declared six buildings on the site a public nuisance.

The decision came at the urging of many, including Los Angeles City Councilmember Adrin Nazarian, who represents the area and has pushed for action after years of stalled redevelopment and rising safety concerns.

Opened in 1951, the shopping center was once a jewel of the San Fernando Valley, but over time it began to unravel. It was heavily damaged during the 1994 Northridge earthquake, and many retailers that once called the mall shuttered and never returned.

Abandoned for nearly a decade, the mall had become a hotspot for fires, squatting and criminal activity

It’s unclear what will happen to the site next, but Nazarian previously said the cost of tearing down the plaza would fall to the owner.

The closure and demolition of a previously popular shopping center is not unusual in the U.S. as consumer spending and shopping habits have shifted from brick-and-mortar businesses toward online retailers.

The Carousel Mall in San Bernardino, which like Valley Plaza was built in the 1970s and permanently closed in the mid 2010s, was also demolished last year after it fell into disrepair and became the site of several high-profile incidents, including fires, deadly shootings and an electrocution death.

That former shopping center is set to be redeveloped into a mixed-use property comprised of commercial and residential space.