Studio City : Condos on School Site to Be Fought

Studio City community leaders vowed Tuesday to fight high-density development of the defunct Corvallis High School campus, despite the hint that an encampment for the homeless may be built there otherwise.

Directors of the Studio City Residents Assn. said they will urge members of their 1,200-household group to vote next week to oppose a 130-unit luxury condominium project proposed for the 3.6-acre school site.

Los Angeles city officials have said they will abide by the community’s wishes when new zoning is determined next month for the abandoned school, according to some involved in the negotiations.

Homeowner association leaders held an emergency board meeting late Monday after learning last week that the school’s owners were considering opening an AIDS hospice or a homeless camp if zoning for 130 units were rejected by the city.

Association president Polly Ward said directors of her group remain opposed to the 130-unit plan.

“The board decided we’ll support 104 condos,” Ward said. “We’ll present that and several other options to members at large on Tuesday, March 29, and explain our reasoning. To have 130 units, the site would require . . . zoning which we cannot support.”

$7 million offered

The 130-unit project has been proposed by Glenfed Development Corp. The Encino-based firm has offered to buy the school site from the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Mary for $7 million, plus half the profit from the sale of finished units.

A 104-unit project would mean a land sale price of about $5.6 million for the nuns, according to real estate experts. The property became available when the school was closed last year because of low enrollment.

The sisters have vowed to keep the campus and use it for their ministry if a sufficient selling price cannot be reached. Their attorney mentioned the AIDS hospice as a possibility in one negotiation session, although the religious order dismissed that idea last week.

“Transitional housing for the homeless would be much more probable than an AIDS hospice. We have been involved in the homeless field,” said Sister Joan Treacy, provincial superior of the order.

Ward said Treacy and Glenfed officials will be invited to next week’s meeting “to present their points of view” to homeowners.

“Depending on what our membership says, maybe we’ll do some negotiation,” Ward said.