Less than two weeks ago, the “Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports” sent 20 thoroughbreds racing around the track at the Kentucky Derby, but across the country, Inglewood’s Hollywood Park race track has announced that it will be ceasing all races at the end of this year. Forever.
The race track is set to be replaced by about 3,000 homes, more than 600,000 square feet of retail space, 75,000 square feet of commercial space, a renovated casino, about 25 acres of parks, and and a 300-room hotel.
The 238-acre master plan, overseen by Wilson Meany and designed by a team including Cooper Robertson, AECOM, and Mia Lehrer and Associates, was actually approved by Inglewood City Council back in 2009, but because of the recession work had been put on hold until now. Most housing will be single family, organized around curving, tree-lined streets. The track, which opened in June 1938, will run its final races from Nov. 7 through Dec. 22. It joins Bay Meadows in Silicon Valley’s San Mateao as a recent California racetrack to be replaced by a mixed use community.
