South LA vendors face eviction to make way for housing development

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South LA vendors face eviction to make way for housing development
A swap meet will be razed to make way for affordable apartments, made possible by new streamlining legislation — they’re asking LA politicians for help.
by Alfredo Santana
09/21/2023

From left, Mariela Briseño and Fernando Espinoza stand next to shoppers at Fiesta Mini Mall on a Saturday afternoon. (Alfredo Santana / LAPP)

In South Los Angeles, dozens of swap-meet vendors face an ominous threat to their livelihoods.

Swap meet vendor Rene Ramirez, and nearly 60 small retailers fear their jobs are endangered if landlord Eleos Ventures, a real estate development company engaged in purchasing properties to build affordable housing, ousts them from their facility.

“Management only shows up to open and close the swap meet. We, the vendors, are permanently running the place,” complained Ramirez, a clothing and home electronics vendor. “We clean, invest in the place, and even installed padlocks in units and restrooms.”

The swap meet, housed in and around the Fiesta Mini Mall warehouse on 4800 S. Main St. in South LA, has been home to vendors selling electronics, clothing, shoes and hygiene products for 12 years. But in 2021 the previous landlord sold the property for $3.5 million to Eleos Ventures, a developer that plans to build 221 affordable units on the site, a development they’re calling the “Elea Apartments.”

https://lapublicpress.org/2023/09/south-la-vendors-face-eviction-to-make-way-for-housing-development/