Plan for Little Tokyo Development Gains : Ambitious Project on 7.8 Acres of City Land Would Mix Commercial, Public Use

Ambitious plans for a large municipal building, along with a major buildup of Little Tokyo, including a 500-room hotel, more stores, hundreds of apartments, a plaza and a museum--all built as an extension of the Los Angeles Civic Center--took a step forward Tuesday.

City Administrative Officer Keith Comrie recommended one of four groups of developers competing to build the 1.25-million-square-foot First Street North project, located on 7.8 acres of city-owned property bounded by 1st, Alameda, San Pedro and Temple streets.

Mayor Tom Bradley and the City Council--amid intense lobbying--will ultimately choose one developer team for exclusive rights to build the complex. Officials say the project, expected to open during 1992, besides its new City Hall annex, will turn a profit from private use of public land. Space for the hotel, retail stores and other additions to Little Tokyo will be located on land leased from the city.

“I expect a very competitive situation in the City Council,” said H. Cooke Sunoo of the Community Redevelopment Agency, project manager for the Little Tokyo redevelopment area. “You’ve got developers who are competitive by nature and proposals themselves that are competitive.”

Comrie’s report, yet to be made public, favors the Showa Village proposal advanced by a development team led by a partnership of the Janss Corp. and Peck/Jones Contractors, sources said. Showa is a Japanese expression signifying peace and harmony.

Among the proposals that did not make it was one envisioning a 120-story pagoda. Dan McGowan, administrative analyst for the project, said the idea was rejected as “non-responsive to our request for proposals.”

The new government building would become a third Civic Center annex of City Hall, joining City Hall East and City Hall South. It would lie to the east of the present city buildings, prompting officials to suggest it may become known as City Hall “Far East.”

Besides the 570,000-square-foot city building at San Pedro and Temple streets, the $193.8-million Showa Village plan includes a 14-story, 500-room, full-service hotel; 180,000 square feet for stores, including a major Japanese department store; 316 new apartment units and 28 rehabilitated units; parking for 2,442 vehicles, and a central plaza that includes a garden entrance to the Japanese-American museum and a memorial to Japanese-American veterans of World War II.

The other competing development teams include the the J. H. Snyder Co. III, known for its Mid-Wilshire projects, including Museum Square, in partnership with California Federal Savings & Loan; Barker Interests Ltd., a major San Francisco and Texas developer, in partnership with prominent Little Tokyo developer Albert Taira, and Moss Enterprises, a major San Fernando Valley office and shopping center developer. All Nippon Airways has solicited each would-be developer, seeking participation as hotel operator, officials say.

Three of the competitors have hired lobbyists. Veteran development attorney Randy Stokes is representing Snyder, former mayoral aide Fran Savitch is aiding Barker and Steve Gavin, public relations consultant with close ties to the mayor, is working for Janss. Only Moss has not retained a lobbyist.

All of the proposals are intended to complement cultural amenities to be preserved or upgraded on the block, such as the Temporary Contemporary (a wing of the Museum of Contemporary Art); the Japanese-American National Museum, now in the organizing stages, to be based in the historic Nishi Hongwanji Buddhist Temple, and the East-West Players Theater, to be housed in the existing Union Church on San Pedro.

The Buddhist Temple and Union Church are among 13 buildings along 1st Street that are being preserved as a historic district.

In favoring the Showa Village plan, city administrators agree with earlier judgments made by the Little Tokyo Community Development Advisory Committee.

Kenzo Okuba, a haberdasher who heads the committee, said the Showa Village plan won favor, in part, because it provides more housing than other proposals and would add “24-hour vitality” to Little Tokyo. The Barker proposal also won kudos from the Little Tokyo committee.

‘Stand Alone’

The Snyder and Moss proposals, however, were judged “not acceptable.” Okuba said the committee believed that the Snyder plan tended to “stand alone,” interacting poorly with the neighborhood. At the time of the review, the Moss plan provided only office space but has since been revised to include 112 apartment units.

The financial arrangements, subject to negotiation, call for a long-term lease to the developer, with the city then leasing back the office space at market rates or purchasing the building through a bond issue.

The Showa Village plan, for example, envisions a 65-year-lease that would result in more than $20 million in revenues to the city over the first 12 years of the project. In addition, it is estimated that during that period, the project would produce $11 million in property taxes, $17.5 million in hotel bed taxes and $4.5 million in sales tax revenues.