Faded theater strip won't bask in glow of Disney Concert Hall. (Spotlight on Broadway).

BARELY three blocks northwest of Farmacia Million Dollar, workers are putting the finishing touches on Frank Gehry's Walt Disney Concert Hall in preparation for a fall debut.

Years in the making, it's a gleaming symbol of what some hope downtown will become. But for Farmacia owner Richard Blitz, the $275 million venue might as well be a hundred miles away from his shop on the corner of Broadway and Third Street.

"Disney Hall is not going to effect us at all. Nobody is going to come down here," said Blitz, who has been in business on Broadway since 1968, including the last 19 years as owner of the Farmacia.

Despite few vacancies and retail rents that can run in excess of $8 per square foot, Blitz said doing business on Broadway is as tough as it's been in 20 years, with most merchants struggling to get by. Above the street-level retail, many property owners are sitting on floors of empty space.

Longstanding efforts to rehabilitate the street, the onetime hub of the city's historic commercial district, have had little effect. Despite an alphabet soup of city, state and federal programs designed to provide developers with tax credits, mortgage financing and other incentives, most of the historic buildings remain dingy and there are few outward signs of improvement.

The reason, said Don Spivak, deputy administrator at the Community Redevelopment Agency, is that until the city enacted its adaptive reuse ordinance in 2001, there were too many hurdles to overcome to make tapping into those funds worth the effort.

A large population of homeless spilling over from nearby Skid Row also represents a huge social service problem for the city and has been a deterrent to business in the area. Meanwhile, the ornate theaters and movie palaces that line the street are now used for filming and special events, occupied by churches or simply shut down.

Many still believe Broadway is up and coming, though the impetus for change will not be cultural draws like Disney Hall but a handful of mixed-use projects that will add several thousand housing units to the neighborhood over the next few years.

Blitz, who a decade back converted his traditional pharmacy to a store specializing in oils, potions, statuettes and a variety prayer items, was optimistic enough to extend his lease recently.

"Commercially there's a lot going on in an effort to bring some retail amenities that the newly emerging residential community can use," said Trudi Sandmeier, Broadway Initiative coordinator for the Los Angeles Conservancy.

Building momentum

Passed in 1999, the ordinance relaxed building requirements to streamline the conversion of older, vacant buildings to residential uses.

Among the projects it spurred were Gilmore Associates' conversion of several old buildings in the Old Bank District, on 4th Street a block east of Broadway, and the Flower Street Lofts, which are being developed a few blocks to the south by Lee Group and CIM Group.

Broadway merchants are expected to benefit from these developments, but so far, few of the mixed-use conversions have occurred there.

"Parking is a big issue on Broadway," said Jeff Lee, president of Los Angeles-based Lee Group. "For for-sale units you need at least two parking spaces, and that's not easy to do on Broadway. The city might have to step up and build some structures."

Blitz believes the biggest step the city could take to improve business conditions on Broadway would be to speed completion of the six-mile Eastside Rail Extension connecting downtown and East Los Angeles. That project, which is about to break ground and is scheduled for completion in 2009, has been approved, but the state budget deficit could jeopardize some funding.

Even more important, Blitz said, was restoring some of the street's historic theaters to bring nightlife back to Broadway.

"We used to have lines going around the block. It was hopping," said Blitz, whose Farmacia is adjacent to the Million Dollar Theatre built in 1918 by Sid Grauman.

Sandmeier said the idea of redevelopment on Broadway was not to displace the small businesses that cater to a mostly Central American clientele.

The goal, she said, is to build a downtown that would be inviting to all Angelenos and that would highlight the street's historic past.