Growth Worries May Mean AIDS Hospice Instead for Studio City

An attempt by Studio City residents to limit development at defunct Corvallis High School may have an unexpected result: Instead of becoming an upscale townhouse project, the abandoned campus could be turned into a hospice for AIDS victims.

A Catholic religious order, which has been hoping for nearly a year to sell the school, says it will keep the campus as a center for charity work if it is unable to negotiate an acceptable price.

Besides a hospice, the 46-year-old school could be used as interim housing for the homeless, say the Catholic nuns who own it.

The fallback plans for the campus have jolted many of those involved in negotiations aimed at turning the site into a luxury condominium complex. The hospice idea was raised by a representative of the nuns during a luncheon meeting.

“I nearly spit up my Cobb salad when they mentioned the AIDS hospice,” said Louise Rice-Lawson, an official with Glenfed Development Corp., the Encino-based firm seeking to buy the site for a 130-unit luxury townhouse project.

Deal in Jeopardy

That deal is in jeopardy because homeowners--who have been given unexpected clout over the project by Los Angeles city officials--are holding out for a smaller-scale project.

The city’s Planning Department has solicited ideas from Studio City residents for new zoning for the 3.6-acre campus as part of a citywide rezoning study under way. And City Councilman Mike Woo has asked homeowners to review project proposals before new zoning is adopted.

“We want to keep it as small as possible and as nice as possible,” Polly Ward, president of the Studio City Residents Assn., said Tuesday of the project.

She said options for the site range from apartments to condominiums to single-family homes. Single-family dwellings may be out because such zoning would not yield enough of a return to the sisters, she said.

“Telling us they’re going to put in an AIDS hospice. . . . I don’t feel threatened by AIDS. AIDS is in every community,” Ward said of the disease known as acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

Ward said leaders of her homeowner association plan to meet with the sisters to discuss the community’s concerns about growth.

“I don’t think the nuns understand the community, the traffic, the city ordinances,” Ward said. “I don’t think they have a realistic view of the San Fernando Valley.”

A Grip on Property’s Value

The Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Mary say they have a realistic view of the value of their school site, however.

Considered a prime development site, the school is on Laurel Canyon Boulevard just south of Ventura Boulevard. It separates Studio City’s main business district from one of the community’s longest-established neighborhoods. It closed last year because of falling enrollment.

An appraisal commissioned by the religious order found that the campus was worth $11 million--$9 million for the land and $2 million for the buildings.

The nuns have been offered $7 million for the site by Glenfed, plus half of the profits from the sale of 130 luxury units planned for the site, say those close to the negotiations.

But scaled-down density being considered by the city could reduce the project to 104 units, which would cut the sisters’ profit to only $5.6 million. Glenfed would reportedly bow out of a development that small, taking with it the profit-sharing plan.

Leaders of the religious order say they would channel profit from the sale of the school site into their Los Angeles-area ministry.

“That’s why, if we’re not able to sell the property, we will use the property ourselves,” said Sister Kathleen Keleman, secretary to the provincial superior of the order. “We use all of our resources.”

Keleman said: “If it goes so low that it will come to a point where it will not be helpful to sell it, we’ll do more by keeping it.”

She denied that the hospice concept is being used as a bargaining chip with homeowners.

“It’s not a threat to the community. We have a ministry and a mission in the Catholic Church, and we need to carry it out. If we can’t sell it, we’ll use it. . . . I’m not saying an AIDS hospice. It could be a neighborhood center--interim housing for homeless,” Keleman said.

Real estate agent Michael Poyer, representing the sisters, affirmed that the nuns plan to hold out for “what they feel is a fair value.”

But real estate agent Mort Allen, representing Glenfed, said his client’s 130-unit townhouse project could result in an extra $2 million being paid to the nuns, once their share of the condominium sale profits is tallied.

Allen said the project would also benefit Studio City because Glenfed is willing to give local residents first crack at buying the new units. Such an opportunity would be of value to older Studio City homeowners, who may be considering selling their homes and moving to smaller units.

Eric Roth, an aide to Councilman Woo, said the Planning Commission is expected to decide April 7 on new zoning for the Corvallis site.

Woo hopes Studio City residents reach a consensus on the campus project before then, Roth said.

“If they can work out a compromise on the density, it will be much better,” Roth said.