Project Profiles

La Chapalita Tortilleria

1815 N. Main
Los Angeles, California 90031

Census Tract:		2060.00
Street Minority %:		82.05%
Poverty %:		49.28%

Project Description
Luis and Patricia Moya purchased a 3,631 SF industrial building with a 2,400 SQ storage building on a 15,000 SQ lot located at 1815 N. Main Street, Los Angels, California 90031 with an appraised cost of $240,000. In 1995 the building housing La Chapalita was placed for sale. The Moya's had two choices, relocate or purchase the property. Relocation included the risk of loss of income and of losing their client base. A previous bank had offered to lend the Moya's the equivalent of 60% LTV. That type of loan would have jeopardized the working capital of La Chapalita. The LDC provided a loan of 90% LTV.

Neighborhood Description
The subject property is located in north central industrial business district adjacent and northeast of Chinatown. The area is improved with a mix of older, small warehouses, food processing plants, fabrication plants and storage yards. The Pasadena (110) Freeway is located one-half mile west and the Hollywood (101) Freeway is one and one-half miles south. The Chinatown commercial properties are one-half mile southwest. Current zoning of the property is "M2-2-R4" Industrial/Residential, which is a split zoning with a portion of the lot being zoned for residential use.

Community Development Impact
This loan assisted La Chapalita Tortilleria, Inc. to purchase the property that La Chapalita had been housed in since 1983 instead of relocating to another plant. The relocation of the tortilla plant would have had an extremely adverse effect on the tortilla manufacturing operation and their client base. The loan also made possible the retention of sixty jobs in the east size empowerment zone. Furthermore, the potential of job creation with growth of the business has materialized to date.

Borrower/Sponsor
Mr. and Mrs. Moya purchased the tortilleria in 1983. The business was operated as a sole proprietorship until 1991, when it was incorporated. The annual sales have grown from $200,000 in 1983 to over $2 million. Most of the sales are from Tortillas and Tortilla Chips, but over the years have increased their products to include tomato and spinach tortillas and chips to different types of flour. A smaller component of La Chapalita is the distribution of other Mexican foods products such as chorizo sausage, tamales, sopes and gorditas. Their products are distributed to restaurants and ethnic markets. The company also operates a retail outlet in the Grand Central Market on Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles, on the site that was occupied by Homeboy Bakery.

Community Development Finance Effect
The participation of the LDC in this transaction allowed La Chapalita Tortilleria to acquire the subject property where the plant had operated for many years.