Rejection Frustrates Officials Seeking Downtown Tenant : Macys Is Latest Major Retailer to Spurn Burbank, the Perennial Suitor

No matter how hard they try, some guys just can’t get a date. And no matter how hard it tries, the city of Burbank just can’t get a major department store.

The New York-based Macys chain is the latest--and perhaps the last--in a long list of retailers to turn down a city bid to locate a store on a 41-acre site that the city has been trying to develop for almost 20 years.

The rejection by Macys all but kills the city’s chances of getting a major mall, City Manager Bud Ovrom said in a memo to City Council members last week. Ovrom had hoped that R.H. Macy’s takeover of Bullock’s stores earlier this year might result in the opening of a Macys or a Bullock’s in Burbank.

“Macys/Bullock’s was our best shot at a department store-anchored mall,” Ovrom wrote. “If Macys broke the mold, J.C. Penney, Sears and perhaps others might be willing to follow suit.”

The decision comes at the same time that six competing companies are trying to generate detailed plans for the development of the site. City officials have insisted that a significant amount of retail shopping be included in the projects.

Too Close to Galleria

Major stores have declined repeated appeals to participate in the Burbank site because the city is so near the Glendale Galleria and other established malls in the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys. Developer Ernest Hahn, a major Southern California mall developer, was unable to attract four major stores needed to anchor a proposed mall in Burbank last year.

But city officials were encouraged by Macys’ takeover of Bullock’s. Macys, which has 25 stores in Northern California, has been planning to enter the Southern California market. The chain apparently has plans to build one Macys in Marina del Rey and Irvine, and industry sources said late last year that the San Fernando Valley was a “good bet” for a third location.

Ovrom said he talked with Jim York, a consultant for Macys, about a possible store in Burbank. He said that with the takeover, York had told him that Macys would be taking a “fresh look” at Burbank and would be considered on an “equal footing” with the Glendale Galleria.

But Ovrom said York told him last week that Macys would pursue the proposed Glendale Galleria III, the second addition to the Glendale mall, rather than locate in Burbank.

Ovrom said York told him that a Macys or a Bullock’s in Burbank could take away business from Bullock’s stores in Sherman Oaks and Pasadena. He said that he was told that “too many of the customers at a new store here would be at the expense of the Sherman Oaks store.” York could not be reached for comment.

‘Still Maddening’

Ovrom expressed frustration with the decision. “No matter how many times we hear that same old story from all the department stores, it is still maddening,” he wrote to the council. “Our site and the Galleria are just not that far apart. You would think a Macys/Bullock’s store at the Galleria would transfer just as much business from Sherman Oaks and/or Pasadena.”

He also criticized the leadership of Macys Chairman Edward S. Finkelstein. “You would think that a dynamic leader like Ed Finkelstein would want to play a big role in creating the kind of center he would want for Macys entrance into Southern California rather than just being an add-on to an add-on in Glendale.

“The gospel they all seem to go by is that it is easier to join an ongoing successful center than start from scratch with a new one.”

But Macys’ decision may have been more of a goodby to Burbank than a hello to Glendale.

Dan Donahue, developer of the proposed Glendale Galleria III, said that Macys has not shown serious interest in locating in Glendale.

“We’ve had some meetings with them, but there are no negotiations at this time,” Donahue said. “We would like very much to have them. We’re talking about it, but we don’t know if they are.”

Finkelstein and other Macys officials declined to comment.

Detailed Proposals

Six companies are developing detailed proposals for the development of the 41-acre downtown site. All ave promised to build shopping areas, but city officials have expressed doubt about whether they can attract major stores.

Councilman Michael R. Hastings said he was not surprised by the Macys decision. “We’ve been down this road before,” Hastings said. “Some day, a retailer will take the risk and be pleasantly surprised by what he finds here. Demographics can change.”