^{The 1980s and 1990s was a time of major developments in Torrance. And the City was part of this growth, expanding the Cultural Arts Center complex at the Civic Center.}

As the 1980s commenced, the City saw a new transformation.

The Industrial Redevelopment Project saw U.S. Steel and other antiquated industrial facilities transformed into the Honda Headquarters facilities. ARMCO and Rome Cable became Torrance Center I and II with offices, a new retail center and manufacturing facilities.

To achieve this transformation, Honda, the City and its Redevelopment Agency made major loans. The Redevelopment Agency took action to acquire land, consolidate lots, vacate public right-of-way and relocate owners and tenants.

Torrance Center I and II required the Redevelopment Agency and the developer to use bond funds and development agreements to purchase property and to mitigate soil problems and provide needed infrastructure improvements.

Later a similar effort would replace the 1920 Pacific Smelting with a home hardware store and a series of industrial buildings.

The City stepped out with a private developer and participating property owner to a development of a mixed-use downtown Torrance, which held to its Olmstead heritage but provided new infrastructure and buildings for the future.

The City itself continued to change its facilities with a new Police Station, a new Fire Station in the Del Amo Business District and an Administrative Center for the Airport. There was also the dedication of Columbia Park.

Park del Amo was an ambitious mixed-use development submitted to the City in early 1981 by a partnership of three prominent developers and the Santa Fe Energy Co. to develop the area roughly from Madrona Avenue east to Crenshaw Boulevard and from Sepulveda Boulevard north to Monterey Street.

Most of the northwest portion of the project was to be medium density condominiums or patio homes, with the southeast corner to be the site of a moderate high rise office development. The original plan included 2,500 residential units including a senior housing building and high-rise office buildings.

The development would have substantially impacted the vernal marsh on the west side of the project – the project was finally approved by the City Council with 1,700 residential units and office buildings at Crenshaw and Sepulveda Boulevard. It also provided for the dedication of 10 acres of park land.

There was community backlash to the approved project, and within a few weeks a petition campaign collected more than 17,000 signatures to force the matter to the ballot.

The project was reconsidered by the Council and sent back for further study, and a compromise was worked out with the developers. It provided for a 34.4-acre donation of land for the Madrona Marsh and the sale by the developers of another 8.5 acres of land to the City for $1.5 million.

The City received state wetland preservation funds for the land acquisition. The scaled-back project included 1,482 residential units and 850,000 square feet of office space.

The City moved during this same time into almost continuous recycling of old retail properties. Once a significant retailer, the old White Front had fallen into blight and decay. The City and the Torrance Company (owner of the Del Amo Fashion Square) explored a redevelopment project to extend the mall north to encompass the White Front property. The project was challenged over the justification as to blight and was abandoned by the parties.

A new strategy emerged as the Torrance Company acquired the aging Del Amo Mall south of Carson Street. The two malls were then connected with a bridge over Carson Street and a new Robinson’s department store.

It resulted in the largest indoor mall in the United States, and would remain so until the construction of the Mall of America in Minnesota.

Shortly after this project commenced, the White Front property went through a private redevelopment into a major office building and the City’s second major hotel, the Marriott.

The City was expanding its own facilities with a new City Yard, General Aviation Center, Transit Facility and Police headquarters.

Robinson Helicopter moved its existing facility on Skypark Drive at the Airport, taking up and expanding into several older industrial buildings.