$150-million North Campus Plan for CSUN Granted 2nd Extension

California State University trustees Wednesday approved a one-year extension for a firm that is preparing an ambitious plan for developing the little-used north campus at California State University, Northridge.

It was the second extension requested by Northridge campus officials on behalf of North Campus Associates, a consortium of developers that has been unable to put together a financing plan for the $150-million project.

Northridge campus officials say the development likely will include a 20,000-seat athletic stadium, a hotel and convention center, a 2,000-seat auditorium, an art gallery, a botanical garden, faculty offices and dormitories for 1,770 students.

Difficulties Unforeseen

“Putting together the details, especially the financing details, has proved more complex and difficult than we anticipated,” said Charles A. Manley, director of facilities planning for the Northridge campus.

The 100-acre north campus is bounded by Devonshire and Plummer streets and Lindley and Zelzah avenues.

The university has proposed that the developers be allowed to keep part of the income from the commercial developments as profit, and that the balance be used for school projects.

Arrangement Unclear

Manley said officials have not decided whether the developers would do the school construction work, or if the income would be put into a fund to be administered by the university.

“That’s one of the reasons the trustees went for an extension--because that part of the arrangement has still not been decided,” he said.

The developer would control the land under a 50- or 60-year lease, after which control of the land would revert to the school.

In announcing the project in April, 1983, university officials predicted that construction would begin in late 1984.

Manley predicted that, despite the delays, the development will be completed, but that “it will happen a little later than we would have liked.”