Residents Debate Tall Order for Office Tower : North Hollywood: A hearing is held on the effects of a 22-story building in the redevelopment zone. The project would boost business and traffic.
An environmental review of plans for a 22-story office tower in North Hollywood, which would be one of the tallest buildings in the San Fernando Valley, was the subject of a public hearing Thursday before the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency.
The 283-foot-tall building is being proposed by Long Asset Management Co. (LAMCO) for a one-block site bounded by Lankershim Boulevard on the east, Chandler Boulevard on the north, Bakman Avenue on the west and Weddington Street on the south.
It would be located in the North Hollywood Community Redevelopment District, the first such project to be built in the area without the agency’s financial help since the district was established in 1979, said Don Spivack, a top Redevelopment Agency official.
The site now contains an abandoned shoeshine stand and Paperback Shack Books.
During Thursday’s hearing, Don Eitner, a director of the Universal City-North Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, praised the LAMCO project, saying it would bring much-needed additional business to the area.
But Mildred Weller, a local businesswoman, claimed it will bring more traffic to the area’s congested streets.
“It’s insane,” Weller said. “At 5 p.m. now, the traffic is horrendous here and no one has even moved into the Academy project.” The Academy Village project--located immediately to the south of the proposed skyscraper--contains more than 200 office units.
According to the environmental document, LAMCO would need to pay for minor traffic improvements at three local intersections and at the nearby Hollywood Freeway ramps in order reduce the project’s traffic effects to acceptable levels. No price was placed on the improvements.
Weller also complained that the project’s tax revenues will be diverted to the redevelopment agency at a time when the city of Los Angeles is strapped for funds to pay for basic services, including fire protection. The added property tax revenues that come from new projects in a redevelopment area go to the CRA, not local governments such as the city.
The fact that private business will invest in the North Hollywood area--deemed “blighted” by the CRA--without fiscal aid is no sign that the CRA is no longer needed, Spivack said in an interview. The agency is now seeking permission to extend the life of its North Hollywood project.
“I’m not sure one project on 4.5 acres, when there is a total of 740 acres, means the agency has accomplished its work,” Spivack said. “I don’t think we can rely on the private sector to accomplish the still remaining goals of removing the blight, building housing and financing public infrastructure needs.”
