1986-1990
LUXURIOUS SHOPPING CENTRE IN LOS ANGELES, USA
WJM Partnership from Los Angeles, USA assigned Teodor Garabet as a temporary partner and general project manager with the downtown "Jewelers Mall of Los Angeles" project in Hill Street from October 1986 on. His assignment was to plan and construct the most beautiful jewellery shopping mall in the city.
One year earlier the partners had acquired - as an imitation of 47th Street in New York - a high-rise building in the same street and redesigned this property as the first centre with an outstanding increase in its current market value.
Coming from Biafra and Oshogbo in Nigeria and from the landscape of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf States, Teodor Garabet had become immersed in the American world in order to find planning and contractual success with completely different key data.
WJM Partnership established for Teodor Garabet the crucial political relationships with Mayor Tom Bradley, Interior District Mayor Gilbert Lindsay, County Supervisor Mike Antonovich and Police Chief of the city centre Bill Chambers in order to support the design and construction.
The political support was provided owing to the enormous influence of the project, even though this only involved the moderate amount of approximately $30 million.
Through the radical reconstruction of the outdated downtown area to the west of 6th Street and Pershing Square, it was possible to create additional jobs, additional income from trade tax and the initial breakout of the modern building style similar to the elegant building projects in the famous quarter around Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.
In spite of all of the aforementioned support, there were nevertheless serious legal conflicts with the underground railway authority owing to the first planned underground railway project that crossed under the existing land of the project, which were associated with significant structural restrictions and loss of business.
However, thanks to the active legal and financial resistance displayed by Teodor Garabet, the partnership was able to achieve a result entailing out-of-court financial success.
In spite of further unforeseen hurdles in terms of underground contamination and the resulting conflicts with the EPA environmental agency, as well as numerous conflicts with the building and fire authorities and several disputes with the construction and architectural firms, there were no significant delays to successful completion of the project.
On 19 October 1990 the official inauguration was held in the presence of all of the above-mentioned celebrities, as well as television and other media.
Teodor Garabet was presented with awards not only by the city, but also the state of California.