Plans for 9 High-Rises in Warner Center Told

Long-range development plans calling for a 45-story tower and eight other high-rises on a Warner Center property were unveiled before Woodland Hills businessmen and homeowners Wednesday night.

Officials of Blue Cross of California said that, although they have no plans to build soon, they are seeking rezoning for a 32-acre site that could lead to construction of 3.8 million square feet of office space by the year 2020.

But residents and leaders of the Woodland Hills Chamber of Commerce vowed to oppose the zoning request when it comes before Los Angeles city officials unless the company provides guarantees that the project will be attractive and not cause major traffic problems.

‘We Want Specifics’

Chamber director Glenn Bevilacqua, a Woodland Hills realtor, predicted that traffic would be a problem. “We want specifics as to how we’re going to survive the traffic. We don’t want to hand you a blank check,” he told Blue Cross officials.

According to city planning officials, the Blue Cross proposal for its property at Canoga Avenue and Oxnard Street fits nicely with the original Warner Center master plan. That development guide calls for an urbanized, high-rise concentration near the center of the 1,100-acre West San Fernando Valley residential and commercial zone.

Architect David C. Martin, who helped devise the Blue Cross plan, said it would carry out the urban theme by concentrating groupings of 12- and 25-story buildings around a plaza on Owensmouth Avenue, opposite the Promenade shopping center.

The 45-floor tower would be the last structure built, possibly not for 35 years, he said. Such a building would be taller than any now in the Valley.

Last Major Parcel

The Blue Cross property is the last remaining Warner Center parcel with room for major construction.

Martin said pedestrian bridges could link the plaza with the shopping center and other adjoining blocks. Within the plaza, open-air shops and cafes would encourage pedestrians to leave their cars in four six-story parking structures proposed for the Canoga Avenue side of the property.

“It’s consistent with our visions for the future of Warner Center that go back 15 years,” he said.

But John F. Siemon, Blue Cross director of property development, indicated that the ambitious proposal is very tentative.

“Blue Cross has no current plans to develop anything,” Siemon said. “We want to achieve rezoning and nothing beyond that. This doesn’t represent anything Blue Cross plans to develop on that property.”

He said the long-range plan is required by Los Angeles city officials to show the potential effect of a zone change on the site.

Siemon’s statement fueled speculation among businessmen in Wednesday night’s audience that Blue Cross, which administers health insurance programs, may want the zone change so it can increase the property’s value and then sell it. The site is now occupied by a 14-story office building, a parking lot and a lawn area.

“My concern is Blue Cross may sell it off to a developer that doesn’t have the conscience it has and can build anything he wants,” said Ray Extract, a Chamber of Commerce vice president.

Blue Cross presented its plan at a meeting of the chamber’s development review committee.

Parking Worries

James R. Gary, a Warner Center real estate broker who heads the committee, said another developer might take over the Blue Cross property “and build to the curbs just because the zoning will allow it.”

Gary complained that he already is forced to patrol his own parking lot each morning to look for illegally parked cars belonging to Blue Cross employees. “You don’t have enough parking now,” he said.

Norman Kravetz, a developer who is building his own Canoga Avenue high-rise complex several blocks from the Blue Cross site, said he was “personally offended” by the proposed concentration of six-story parking lot structures along the Blue Cross Canoga Avenue frontage.

But Martin said a high water table in the Warner Center area makes it impossible to build underground parking deeper than 12 feet. Blue Cross estimated that the parking structures will handle up to 12,600 automobiles.