A restaurant called FARMshop could make all the difference in the world to the long-term survival of the Country Mart, according to Jim Rosenfield, who runs the Country Mart.
FARMshop seeks to open its doors in the spot Bristol Farms once occupied – and where City Bakery was up until recently.
FARMshop proposes to serve breakfast, lunch and dinner and seeks a waiver from the City of Los Angeles that would allow the new restaurant to serve wine and beer.
There currently is no beer or wine license in existence for an establishment at the Country Mart and so, in order to get one, additional public hearings are required to satisfy city regulators.
Rosenfield has assembled a top-notch restaurant team to make FARMshop a first-class destination. If FARMshop draws in more foot traffic into the Country Mart, the hope is that other stores in the complex will benefit.
For the last two months, FARMshop has been the subject of much debate at the Brentwood Community Council. The BCC is made up of representatives from Brentwood homeowner, business, volunteer, schools and religious organizations.
On the one hand, everyone seems to like the idea of a nice new restaurant happily ensconced inside a shopping mall that’s a true institution in Brentwood.
On the other hand, neighbors who live on the west side of Avondale, which abuts the east side of the Country Mart property, are concerned about hours of operation, noise and parking issues.
One speaker at the BCC circulated photos of the daily trash pickup operation at the Country Mart, which begins early in the morning and reportedly makes excessive noise. If the restaurant stays open late, neighbors said they were concerned about noise related to cleaning up the restaurant after it closes.
Other speakers said they were concerned about lack of parking at the Country Mart, which could result in more people driving on, or attempting to park their cars on, Avondale. If the Country Mart parking lot fills up regularly already, they argued, then things can only get worse if a new restaurant draws in additional visitors.
A group of homeowners on Avondale has been involved in negotiations with the Country Mart for months. Both parties are pushing to arrive at mutually agreeable conditions that would govern the operation of the FARMshop restaurant.
The Avondale homeowner’s group has asked the BCC to step back and allow these negotiations to continue, with essentially no input from the BCC. This appears to be at the root of the tension that currently exists between the Avondale homeowners and the BCC.
Insiders think the homeowners group believes it can negotiate tougher conditions with the Country Mart than the BCC would likely seek to impose. One proposal would have the Country Mart erect a “sound wall†between the Country Mart and the homes along the west side of Avondale.
BCC chair Ray Klein has expressed concern that to remain uninvolved, the BCC could be abdicating its responsibility to the Brentwood community at large. The BCC represents businesses as well as homeowners. And several residents outside the immediate neighborhood appeared in significant numbers at the last BCC meeting to express support for FARMshop.
If the Avondale homeowners and the Country Mart fail to arrive at an acceptable conclusion, Brentwood could be deprived of what everyone agrees would be a nice restaurant.
The future of the Country Mart itself could be at stake, according to Jim Rosenfield, a real estate developer and building preservationist who said he has lost $7 million so far on the Country Mart. Rosenfield also owns the Aero Theater and will run the retail operations of the “Munger Project†if it gets built.
The Avondale homeowners said that if the Country Mart management thinks the BCC is the “court of last resort,†then the Country Mart will hold out to negotiate with the seemingly more business-friendly BCC, thereby undermining the Avondale homeowners.
The BCC voted to allow the Avondale homeowners to continue their direct negotiations with the Country Mart, but would stand ready to jump in with its own list of proposed conditions that would be submitted to the Los Angeles City Zoning Administrator (ZA) should no agreement be reached between the Avondale homeowners and the Country Mart.
Despite the tension, all parties said they believed a happy conclusion will be achieved soon.
