Fred Sands Drops Plans for Larchmont Office : Development: Opposition from area residents prompts real estate firm to withdraw from project. Councilman also opposed plan.

Responding to a flurry of protests from area residents and business owners, real estate broker Fred Sands has decided not to participate in a joint project to build an office-retail complex in the Larchmont Village business district.

Sands’ withdrawal effectively kills the project.

In a letter to the Larchmont Chronicle newspaper dated Tuesday, Sands wrote that he now agrees with area residents that the proposed two-story building with underground parking on Larchmont Boulevard is inappropriate.

“After reading . . . remarks (of) area residents (I) understand how they feel. This area should remain the quaint village that it is,” Sands wrote. “Larchmont is not Century City, and should not become one.”

In a brief press release the same day, Los Angeles City Council President John Ferraro, whose district includes Larchmont, said the proposal was “not in the best interest of the community.” He said he based his decision on a city Department of Transportation analysis of parking in the area.

The proposal would have required city approval to go forward.

Ronald A. Simms Commercial Development and a real estate purchasing subsidiary of Fred Sands Co. late last year had jointly proposed building the complex on the commercial stretch of Larchmont Boulevard just south of Beverly Boulevard. The complex would have replaced several existing shops and a city-owned surface parking lot. Sands planned to house offices on a second floor, leaving the ground level open to retail space.

Sands officials said earlier this month that the project would not be economically feasible if it did not include the city-owned parking lot.

Neighbors and area business owners protested the proposal at a meeting of the Larchmont Boulevard Assn. earlier this month. At that meeting, residents complained that a recent intrusion of banks and real estate offices on the quaint, tree-lined strip was destroying the small-town flavor of the area. Larchmont has long been dominated by locally owned retail shops.

Many also said that an existing three-level underground parking lot nearby goes largely unused by shoppers who prefer street-level parking.

The residents and shop owners took their objections to Ferraro, presenting his office with petitions signed by hundreds of people opposed to the project.

Opponents of the project were delighted with Sands’ withdrawal.

“I am thrilled,” said Daryl Trainor, owner of Village Catering Company on the strip. “This really shows that if we jump in and take action, we can have some say.”

Some residents were skeptical that Sands based his decision on the will of the local community.

“I don’t believe he had any choice,” said Michael Cornwell, president of the Windsor Square Assn., a homeowners group.

“I believe he saw the handwriting on the wall,” Cornwell said, referring to Ferraro’s opposition to the proposal.