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Four K-Town businesses close doors for Purple Line expansion

October 14, 2015

A plaza on Wilshire/Manhattan in Koreatown, Los Angeles, will say goodbye to four businesses Saturday to make way for an MTA Purple Line expansion. (Park Sang-hyuk/Korea Times)

By Kim Chul-soo

The expansion of the MTA Purple Line to West Los Angeles is pushing a line of Korean business owners out of a plaza situated on Wilshire Boulevard in Koreatown.

Under eminent domain, four businesses — Nagoya Sushi, Kaju, Bbang Goom Teo and Hite Kwang-jang — will close their doors Saturday.

The 22,457-square-foot space left behind will be under the use of the MTA project for the next 10 years.

Bbang Goom Teo, a bakery, will not relocate as they have chosen to close down for good. Others will, to other Koreatown locations.

“We’ve been here for 15 years now, so to close our doors, it’s definitely disappointing,” a Bbang Goom Teo store representative said. “We thought about doing our business elsewhere, but we’ve come to a decision to shut down completely.”

Businesses have filed for compensation under a code that allows for relocation assistance in case of eminent domain.

The Purple Line extension, a project with an estimated cost of $2.1 billion, is expected to be completed in 2023.