Former Sport Chalet Reaching New Tenant Deal, But Not With Hooters

No, the former Sport Chalet space will not be occupied by a Hooters Restaurant, despite what you might have read on social media.
It also won’t house a skating rink, said Robert Fuelling, senior vice president of IDS Real Estate Group, which owns the Town Center.
IDS is, in fact, closing in on a deal with a tenant for the 45,000-square foot retail space, Fuelling said, adding only that the negotiations are with a national retailer and that an announcement could come within a month.
“We’re making progress,” said Fuelling, a La Cañada Flintridge resident. “We’ve got a signed letter of intent and we’re in the second or third round of negotiation the lease document, so it’s positive momentum. I’m optimistic.”
The large space anchoring LCF’s largest shopping center has been vacant since early July 2016, when Sport Chalet — the sporting goods retail giant that was started in LCF by Norbert and Irene Olberz 57 years earlier — closed.
The chain was purchased in 2014 by Vestis Retail Group, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April 2016. That’s when it announced its intent to close all 47 Sport Chalet stores, including the one that anchored LCF’s Town Center, which IDS acquired in 2011 from the Olberz family.
Late last week, someone who is apparently tuned into the community’s eagerness to learn what might move into the prime location next to the future City Hall site, played something of a joke on Town Center shoppers. The sign — “yes, a hoax,” City Manager Mark Alexander assured — was taken down by the afternoon, but Facebook users continued to buzz about the possibility for a few days.
The sign appeared to be an official notice from the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, and was hung on the sliding glass doors of the vacant building, which it indicated that it was to be transferred to a new owner and would be operated as a Hooters.
Neither of those statements are true, Fuelling said. Nor is speculation that a Hooters might move into the only other vacant space in the center.
“We get plenty of calls about the space between Luna Grill and the real estate office,” he said. “But we’re being really selective for that last vacancy. We want to find somebody who’s going to add value to the community along with the other tenants in the Town Center, and once we finalize the larger lease on the 45,000-foot space, that’ll help drive demand.”