Developers Turn Race for Burbank Parcel Into Pageant

Developers competing for rights to develop a 41-acre parcel in downtown Burbank are getting their acts together and taking them on the road.

The builders are hoping to win points with the Burbank City Council by taking their proposals to the people.

As a result, the roadshows have taken on the fever of a fierce political battle, complete with lobbying, handshaking and mudslinging. In banquet rooms and meetings around town, representatives of the firms have belittled their opponents’ projects while hyping their own.

Burbank has been struggling to find a suitable project for the downtown redevelopment property for almost 20 years. All of the developers are offering to build retail, office and entertainment complexes costing at least $200 million on the site, near the Golden State Freeway and the Burbank Civic Center.

Developers of one of the four projects under consideration by city officials have pleaded with citizens to flood the council with phone calls and postcards supporting their proposal. Another has sought an endorsement from one of the city’s employee unions.

‘Full-Court Press’

“These developers are putting on the full-court press,” Burbank City Manager Bud Ovrom said. “Every day I get something shipped to me from one of them that touts their project or downplays the other projects. All the analysis is self-serving. They’re all lobbying and bad-mouthing each other.”

But the jockeying for position and favor has turned the competition into more of a popularity contest than a business deal, some complain.

“Somehow the process has gotten to be more of a beauty contest than it should,” said Larry Kosmont, project manager for Triple Five Development Enterprises. Triple Five, along with LJ Hooker Development of New York, has offered to build a $984.5-million retail, office and entertainment complex, “Fashion Mall at Burbank.”

Kosmont said the developers may end up spending as much as $250,000 on their respective roadshows.

Kosmont said of the campaigning: ‘I don’t think it’s inappropriate, but at this point it’s a little bit out of control. However, we’re willing to participate and get the word out about our project. This is a very important decision for Burbank, and this council is sensitive to public opinion.”

Ovrom agreed. “This has the certain measure of a popularity contest, but the council does not want to put anything on the site that is not popular with residents.”

Most of this month and next, the developers are meeting with service clubs, political groups and business leaders to explain their proposals. They are appearing at regular meetings of the groups as well as staging expensive luncheons or breakfasts to make their pitches.

“There’s no excuse for anybody going hungry in Burbank this holiday season,” Mayor Al F. Dossin said. “Developers are feeding people all over the place.”

The proposed projects are:

* The 4.6 million-square-foot “Fashion Mall at Burbank” which would feature a dolphin arena and a triple-level mall.

* “Burbank Promenade,” a 1.5 million-square-foot retail, office and entertainment complex to be developed by Price Co. and Kornwasser and Friedman Shopping Center Properties.

* “Burbank Gateway,” a 1.3 million-square-foot office and retail complex by the Alexander Haagen Co.

* “City Circle Center,” a 1.6 million-square-foot retail, entertainment and office project by Cusumano Development and Watt Commercial Properties.

City officials say the developers have sent letters of commitment from major department stores that want to locate in their projects. However, they declined to release further details, saying names of the stores are confidential.

The developers presented their concepts to the council Nov. 29. But they were only allowed 30 minutes each to make presentations, which council members agreed was not enough time.

Dossin said he telephoned each developer after the meeting and “told them to get their dog-and-pony shows on the road. I wanted them to get as much information as they could out to the public, where residents could learn firsthand what they were offering the city. This way, people ask all the questions they want about the different projects.”

The presentations started almost immediately after, with representatives from the “Burbank Promenade” and “the Burbank Gateway” appearing before groups such as the Burbank Board of Realtors and chapters of the Kiwanis Club.

So far, about 30 letters from residents and businesses have been received by the council in support of various projects. And people also have telephoned the city to endorse the various proposals, city officials said.

Last Tuesday, developers of two of the proposed projects wooed different crowds at the same time. Proponents of the “Burbank Promenade” hosted a luncheon for 80 business and civic leaders at the Burbank Airport Hilton while the developers of “City Circle Center” showed an elaborate slide show of their project to 40 members of the Burbank chapter of the Kiwanis Club.

“We don’t see this as a popularity contest,” said Joseph A. Kornwasser of Kornwasser and Friedman. “We just want to inform the public and give them a realistic presentation of what we can do.”

Most of the presentations have been for selected audiences. Cusumano Development is hosting a breakfast that is open to the public at Bobbie McGee’s restaurant on Tuesday. All of the developers are planning to make a joint appearence before the Burbank Chamber of Commerce Jan. 9.

Kosmont said he will be glad when the campaigning is over. “In the long run, the decision will not be based on the beauty show,” he said. “It will have to be on concept and economics.”