3 Sign Agreement on ‘Academy’ Project

Three developers Monday signed an agreement to finance a $46-million office and theater complex in North Hollywood, a project that is expected to lead Los Angeles’ redevelopment campaign in the run-down core of the East San Fernando Valley community.

The project, being called “The Academy,” is to include a nine-story office building, shops and restaurants, a landscaped plaza and a 10-screen theater complex. Ground breaking is scheduled for next summer, with construction to be finished in late 1988.

Project officials said the financing package was completed when Kumam, a San Francisco-based subsidiary of Kumagai Gumi of Tokyo, joined the project’s two original developers--Birtcher Corp. of Laguna Niguel and Kensley Group of Beverly Hills.

About Equal Shares

The three developers are splitting costs and ownership of the project about equally, said Bob Ochsner, a spokesman for Birtcher.

“The problem over the last several years has been finding a financial partner,” said Jerry Belcher, who is managing the project for the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency. “I don’t see any roadblocks now.”

The project is called The Academy because the nonprofit Academy of Television Arts and Sciences has a tentative agreement with the developers to move its headquarters from Burbank to the North Hollywood site. Plans also call for establishing a museum of television history there.

The seven-acre project area is bordered on the south by Magnolia Boulevard, on the north by Weddington Street, on the west by Lankershim Boulevard and on the east by Blakeslee Avenue.

Stemming Decline

“The downtown portion of North Hollywood has been in steep decline for many years. Hopefully, it’s being transformed into an office center during the day, and the theaters should keep many of the people here at night,” Belcher said.

Belcher said that the redevelopment agency had spent about $10 million to buy most of the businesses in the area and that the total cost of acquiring and razing the buildings and relocating the merchants will be about $13 million.

The parcel was sold to the developers for $7.3 million, pending final approval by the City Council, which is expected this fall.

By increasing the area’s assessed value, Belcher said, the project will generate an additional $15 million in property taxes over 30 years.