Burbank Officials Despair of Replacing Mall Dropout

The long-delayed Burbank Towncenter shopping mall is in serious jeopardy because of the developer’s apparent inability to secure a department store to replace Robinson’s, which withdrew from the project last year, city officials said Friday.

Burbank Council members Mary Lou Howard and Al F. Dossin said the mall’s developer, Ernest W. Hahn Inc., has exhausted all possibilities to attract a store to the redevelopment project, possibly ending the city’s 17-year-old dream of having a major mall downtown.

“Everyone’s been contacted, and there is no interest,” Howard said. “The developer has talked with all these other stores, and they don’t want to expand at this time. Now that we’ve come to the end of the road, we’re just going to have to cut our losses and get on with other things.”

‘Other Developers Circling’

“There will be no four-store mall,” Dossin said in a separate interview. “There are other developers circling that property like vultures. We should get on with dealing with them.”

Representatives of the three remaining department stores--The Broadway, Nordstrom and J. C. Penney--previously said their commitment to the $158-million project was dependent on a fourth store’s replacing Robinson’s. Spokesmen for all three stores said Friday that they had not been informed of any final word on the fourth store and were still re-evaluating their participation.

If the Towncenter should fall through, other suggested uses for the 29-acre site include a redesigned shopping center with smaller stores and possibly a movie theater. High-rise office buildings could also be built there, city officials said.

Still others have discussed whether Towncenter could be successful with just two, three or four anchor stores. Executives of the three remaining stores said they felt a four-store mall would provide the right variety and attraction for luring shoppers from the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles.

Howard and Dossin said Hahn executives will report to the council before the end of the month on attempts to rescue the mall by turning it into a shopping center with only three major stores.

“We should have a better handle on that possibility next week,” Howard said.

Hahn Voices Hope

However, John Gilchrist, president of Hahn, said he had still not given up hope of finding a fourth store.

“We have contacted about everybody we can out there, and we’ll just have to wait and see whether anything will happen,” Gilchrist said. “If nothing does, then we will have to consider the possibility of a three-store mall.”

City Manager Bud Ovrom also expressed some optimism. “It’s wrong to say all the possibilities are gone,” Ovrom said. “They’re more remote, but they’re not all gone.”

Mayor Mary E. Kelsey declined to comment on the status of the Towncenter.

‘Glimmer of Hope’

Councilman Robert R. Bowne said he still had a “glimmer of hope,” but added that he felt there was “less than a 50% chance” a fourth store would agree to come into the mall.

Councilman Michael R. Hastings said, “It’s too early to throw in the towel. There are stores still considering us.”

Robinson’s first expressed interest in the project in the mid-1970s. But the May Co., which in June announced its intention to merge with Associated Dry Goods, the parent company of Robinson’s, said it would not permit a Robinson’s at the mall.