Mammoth Project in Talking Stage in W. Hollywood

A Los Angeles developer has proposed a $300-million commercial development for 11 prime acres next to the Pacific Design Center and, to sweeten the deal, has privately offered to give the city of West Hollywood land on which to build a new civic center.

The mammoth project could generate “millions of dollars” annually in tax revenues for West Hollywood and would include a one-time contribution by developer James McCormick of up to $7 million for affordable housing, officials involved in discussions said.

Still in the early stages of negotiation, the project would have more than 1 million square feet of commercial, retail and parking space, including a 24-story office tower and two smaller commercial towers.

McCormick’s offer depends on the ambitious project winning approval of officials from West Hollywood, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the Southern California Rapid Transit District.

The RTD operates a bus yard on nine acres of the property, at Santa Monica and San Vicente boulevards. A sheriff’s station occupies the rest of the property.

Whether the developer wants to buy the land or whether the proposal may include leasing property from the RTD and the county was not clear. McCormick declined to discuss the matter.

Developers and urban planners have long considered the site among the most desirable pieces of commercial real estate remaining on the Westside.

As envisioned, the size of the proposal--outlined by officials involved in discussions with McCormick on the condition that they not be identified--would closely rival the 1.1 million square feet of the huge blue-and-green Pacific Design Center.

By comparison, the 73-story Library Tower project in downtown Los Angeles--the city’s tallest skyscraper--contains 1.5 million square feet.

Underground Bus Yard

The project would involve placing the RTD bus yard under a huge plaza of commercial and civic buildings that would include open-air restaurants and shops facing the thoroughfares, and relocating the West Hollywood sheriff’s station, which is on a corner of the property.

As part of the deal, West Hollywood would be given as much as 100,000 square feet of land near the corner of Santa Monica and San Vicente boulevards--worth an estimated $4 million to $7 million, according to some city officials--to build its long-planned civic center.

McCormick, a former project manager of the Library Tower project being developed by Maguire Thomas Partners, is promoting the West Hollywood project under the banner of his own development firm, James McCormick & Co. of Pacific Palisades.

He declined to discuss details of the proposal, saying that it is “delicate and fraught with tensions” related to its size and West Hollywood’s plans to build a civic center in a park across San Vicente Boulevard from the proposed development.

‘Very Preliminary’

“I don’t think it serves anyone’s interest to discuss the project at this time,” McCormick said.

Officials of the Sheriff’s Department, the RTD and West Hollywood, who described the proposal as “very preliminary,” said they have been holding private talks with McCormick for several months.

“I don’t like the project as it has been proposed, but it’s essentially just to get it off the drawing board,” said West Hollywood City Councilman Paul Koretz.

Some West Hollywood officials have said privately that the offer could rekindle debate over whether to place the center in West Hollywood Park, an issue that has been politically divisive since the center was proposed three years ago.

Although intrigued with the prospect that McCormick’s proposal offers for relocating the civic center outside the park, some city officials have said that the project’s enormous scope is bound to send political shock waves through slow-growth-conscious West Hollywood.

‘Almost Impossible’

“I like the fact that it would take the civic center out of the park and put the bus yard underground where it wouldn’t be a nuisance, but frankly, the sheer scope of the project would make it almost impossible to approve,” said Councilman Steve Schulte, the only council member actively opposed to placing the center in the park.

However, he said, “That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t at least be willing to listen to what he has to say.”

Dan Miller, operations staff superintendent for RTD, said the agency “probably would be willing to consider” the idea of submerging the bus yard. “There’s no technical reason why placing the facility below ground level can’t be done if someone wants to spend enough money.”