Mall Threatened With Closure Asks Court to Make Builder Finish Project

An attorney for the La Reina Fashion Plaza in Sherman Oaks asked Thursday for a court order to compel the shopping center’s builder to widen the nearby intersection of Van Nuys and Ventura boulevards, the key to ensuring that the mall can remain open.

The two-story mall, located on the site of the landmark La Reina movie theater on Ventura Boulevard, is operating without an occupancy permit because of the unfinished street project, empowering the city to shut it down at any time.

A hearing on the mall’s request was scheduled in Los Angeles Superior Court on June 22, said the attorney, Katherine B. Warwick.

Warwick’s client, Robert Dollar Building Associates Ltd. of San Francisco, bought the mall in January as part of an out-of-court settlement of a foreclosure suit against the original owner, a partnership controlled by Century City developer Dennis Bass.

Under the terms of that agreement, Bass’s firm was supposed to complete a street-widening project promised to the city when it obtained building permits. The firm, DES California Limited Partnership No. 1, was supposed to add a second left turn lane with its own signal light on Van Nuys Boulevard to ease traffic at one of the busiest intersections in the San Fernando Valley.

But 2 1/2 years after the mall opened, the public-works project has yet to begin. In an effort to force Bass to fulfill his agreement, Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky’s office last month tried to revoke the mall’s temporary occupancy permit--only to discover that the permit had expired May 18.

City officials have said they are more interested in getting the intersection widened than in closing the mall.