Neighbors Say Club Would Make Downtown Too Vibrant

Although many people wouldn’t think of downtown Los Angeles as an oasis of any kind, trial lawyer Lloyd Staley said he found a pocket of serenity when he moved into a Bunker Hill apartment 2 1/2 years ago.

Now, he and other residents of the Bunker Hill Towers apartments and condominiums are up in arms over a $10-million entertainment complex proposed across the street in the World Trade Center.

They fear the development will bring a rowdy element into a neighborhood of $1,000-a-month apartments and $250,000 condominiums that turns almost ghostly on weekends and weeknights, when the surrounding office towers empty out.

“It’s going to make this a noisy, late-night (place),” said Staley, whose apartment overlooks 3rd and Figueroa streets in the downtown financial district.

But the center’s developers say that the project, which hinges on a city zoning administrator’s ruling expected today, is exactly what downtown--still struggling to become the exciting, 24-hour urban center of city planners’ dreams--needs to stir up its moribund night life.

Haseko California Inc., the U.S. holding company of the giant Japanese real estate firm that purchased the World Trade Center in 1987, has proposed a $20-million overhaul for the office-retail complex at 350 S. Figueroa St.

Currently, much of the center’s 95,000 square feet of retail space is vacant. Haseko’s revitalization plans include three full-service restaurants--Italian, French and Japanese--stages for live performances, a video rental store, an art gallery and a newsstand.

The restaurants would open onto the center’s mall-like main concourse, which is connected through pedestrian bridges to the Bonaventure and Sheraton Grande hotels, Security Pacific Plaza and Bunker Hill Towers.

“We want to create a streetscape here,” said Haseko Vice President and General Manager Terry Tornek. “This is a logical crossroads.”

The most controversial part of the proposal is the $10-million nightclub complex called L.A. Ric’s. According to Haseko project manager William Brubaker, the operation would feature 13 theme bars and restaurants, including a sports bar, dance floors, comedy club, ‘50s-style restaurant and an old-fashioned game room with pinball machines and pool tables.

Haseko officials said the nightclub alone could draw as many 5,000 customers from a 25-mile radius of downtown on a Friday or Saturday night.

“The intent is to make this a lively place,” Tornek said. “The biggest accusation that (critics of the project) have made is that we’re going to bring merrymakers here. My response is, you’re absolutely right. This is downtown, and downtown is supposed to be a vibrant place.”

Tornek said the development firm and the nightclub operator have agreed to a number of compromises, which include restrictions on the hours of operation, removal of a proposed outdoor bar and adding carpeting and a glass screen around a patio dining area to reduce noise.

Staley, one of about 150 Bunker Hill Towers apartment residents who signed a petition opposing the nightclub, said the concessions are not enough to appease the fears he has about how the proposed entertainment facilities will change the neighborhood.

“On weekends, staying downtown is a lot like going to a resort,” Staley said. “It becomes really quiet. It’s a great place to recharge your engines. You can go to movies across the street and it’s never crowded. Or you can take lunch out at one of the parks,” he said, referring to the landscaped plazas at nearby office buildings.

Staley and other residents contend that the proposed nightclub would attract drug users, drunks and other criminal elements. The Los Angeles Police Department also opposes the nightclub complex for those reasons, said Central Vice Lt. Lyman Doster.

Some residents would welcome the additions the World Trade Center’s owners are proposing.

Real estate broker Mike Correia, who lives in the Bunker Hill Towers condominium building, said he is one of many downtown residents who are waiting for downtown to become “a mini-New York City.”

Those who oppose the plans “should move to Visalia or Palm Springs, which are known to be oases of peace and quiet,” said Correia, who says he left Newport Beach because he found it boring. “But we’re in a high-rise urban area, and this isn’t an oasis. Downtown Los Angeles is going to be an exciting place to live.”

Hugh Spilsbury, president of the Bunker Hill Towers Apartments Tenant Assn., said he supports the idea of bringing more restaurants and entertainment to downtown. “But put it in someone else’s neighborhood,” he said. “We are in what is truly a residential area. This is not Manhattan.”