Norwalk Metro Center Construction to Start

London Pacific Investors will begin construction this spring on Norwalk Metro Center at the intersection of Norwalk Boulevard and the Santa Ana (5) Freeway in Norwalk.

Limited partners in the $75-million mixed-use development are Torrance-based London Pacific Investments Inc. and Uni-Cal Financial Corp. of Los Angeles.

Norwalk Metro Center will have an 8-story hotel and conference center, a 168-unit condominium and townhouse community, 6-story office building with 104,000 square feet of leasable office space and 22,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space, a 19,000-square-foot sixplex movie theater and a 9,000-square-foot restaurant.

The 22-acre property, designated as a surplus school site in 1981, was incorporated into the redevelopment district of the city of Norwalk and given specific plan zoning. In 1985, London Pacific Investments was chosen over 200 other development firms for purchasing and developing the site.

The 181-room Sheraton Norwalk Hotel and conference center is planned as the focal point of Norwalk Metro Center and will occupy 3.6 acres. Completion is targeted for the spring of 1989.

Facilities within the 134,650-square-foot structure will include a ballroom to accommodate 500 people for formal dining, 750 people in seminar-style seating and 1,000 in an auditorium arrangement. The floor plan is designed to transform the ballroom into separate meeting rooms.

Gin Wong & Associates of Beverly Hills is the designer of the hotel plan that also allows for a board room and 27 executive suites.

Sycamore Village Condominiums, a gated residential community, has been designed by Withiee Malcolm Architects of Hermosa Beach and the overall landscape architect is the Slimocosky Partnership of Woodland Hills.

The condominium project, expected to open next spring, will reflect a Cape Cod architectural style.