MONTEBELLO, Calif. (KABC) — From Top Golf to Tesla to Nothing Bundt Cakes and more, several new businesses are popping up in Montebello, and it’s turning heads!
” Now I get people from like LA who know about Montebello,” said Barney Santos, a proud Montebello business owner. “Before it was like, ‘What’s that? Where’s that at? Right?’ Now it’s like, oh yeah, I know that town, it’s right next to East LA or it’s like, ten minutes from downtown.”
He co-owns the popular food hall, BLVD MRKT, a spot that’s helped put Montebello on the map since 2021. While the spot continues to grow and evolve, so does the city.
“To see it happen slowly over the years has been so amazing. And it’s by you know rightly in part due to the city and being so supportive of small businesses, honestly,” said Santos.
Montebello’s getting recognized for it. In the small city category, the LA County Economic Development Corporation recently honored Montebello as the “Most Business-Friendly City in Los Angeles County.” It’s helping Mayor Georgina Tamayo step into her new role with plenty of optimism.
” I’m very excited to kick it off in this way and really tell our story, let people know what Montebello is about. 2026 is gonna be great for Montebello. We have momentum and we will keep that going,” said Mayor Tamayo.
” It’s been an amazing year winning the award, most business-friendly city, and also having our plans recognized by the American Planning Association. But let me tell you, we have plans to make 2026 that much more successful for the city of Montebello,” said Joseph Palombi, the director of Planning and Community Development. He says a lot of the progress stems from a new general plan – updated for the first time since 1973!
“I think the results speak for themselves. We’ve issued approximately 2,500 building permits this year, with 30% of those permits being for commercial properties. So that’s a significant move in the right direction,” said Palombi.
The downtown corridor will soon see five new restaurants and a new stop light that’ll make it more pedestrian-friendly. There’s also a new Dutch Bros coming to town along with a Hobby Lobby and a $28 million dollar investment at the Shops at Montebello mall.
“We’re gonna have a Round One coming in, a Yard House coming in, so that’ll be more restaurants and entertainment as you know as opposed to retail since we’re seeing the retail industry suffer a little bit,” said Mayor Tamayo.
It’s Montebello – in its momentum era.
“It was something we had visioned always for a long time and now it’s starting to take shape and it’s so exciting because it’s an energy that I haven’t quite seen before,” said Santos, who will add to the energy in the coming year, with plans to open a new churro shop at BLVD MRKT with his wife.
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