Eastern take. (Real Estate).

Think of it as The Grove with subtitles.

That's the thought behind MaDang, a 100,000-square-foot retail and entertainment center in Koreatown that will break ground at the end of the month.

Located at the site of Woo Lae Oak restaurant on Western Avenue between Wilshire Boulevard and 6th Street, MaDang, which means "courtyard" in Korean, will include a rebuilt Woo Lae Oak, a movie theater, a sports bar and a number of smaller retail establishments.

The $27 million project, scheduled for completion in mid-2004, is being developed by a group that includes Woo Lae Oak owner Young Choi, who has owned the land since opening the restaurant in 1984, Korea-based investment firm Creste DM and L.A.-based Immersive Architecture Inc.

The project is largely inspired by Caruso Affiliated Holdings projects like The Grove at Farmers Market and the Commons at Calabasas and will be geared to attract Koreans and non-Koreans alike, according to David Kim, principal of Immersiv.

"We want to build an urban entertainment center' said Kim, who noted that the two-acre site would include a courtyard complete with bamboo landscaping, koi ponds and Korean statues. "Since this is located in the heart of Koreatown, we almost want to make it like a tourist venue."

While there are no statistics on annual visitors to Koreatown, 199,000 South Koreans visited Los Angeles in 2001, down from 246,000 in 2000 but up from about 160,000 in 1996. according to the International Trade Commission.

With nearly half of the project pre-leased, the developers are looking to add non-Korean retailer chains to the mix.

"We will be pushing our tenants to be bilingual," said Kim. "A lot of people will be coming from Koreatown, but we don't want to alienate English-speaking people either."