K-Town overtaking Little Tokyo?

Six Korean-Americans who made their money as manufacturers in the Fashion District, and who declined to be named, have  purchased the Little Tokyo Shopping Center and plan to evict the Japanese businesses and replace them with mostly Korean businesses, reports Los Angeles Business Journal (via CurbedLA):

The Little Tokyo Shopping Center has changed hands several times since it was built by Japanese developer Taira Services Corp. in the mid-1970s.

At the peak of the market, it sold to Mitsuwa Corp. for a reported $40 million. When Japan’s speculation-driven bubble economy burst in the early 1990s, Japanese companies scaled down or shuttered operations in Little Tokyo. Mitsuwa sold the building to downtown property owner Richard Meruelo for $13 million.

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But the Little Tokyo district falls under the protection of the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency, which offers assistance to help maintain its cultural roots. Those date to 1884, when an American sailor set up a Japanese restaurant on First Street upon returning from a tour in Japan.

Mark Tarczynski of CB Richard Ellis justifies the potential culture changes as inevitable: “Where Chinatown is today, it used to be Little Italy in the 1920s. Ethnic enclaves change over time,” he is quoted as saying in the LABJ article.