Burbank’s Star Rises : The City, a Frequent Target of Jokes, Is Becoming the Toast of Employers and Developers

Question: What do the city of Burbank and Rodney Dangerfield have in common?

Answer: They don’t get no respect, no respect at all.

Of course, the preceding joke is based on image, not truth. With his sold-out concerts and film ventures, Dangerfield has tons of respect. And recent events in Burbank reveal that the community that has been the frequent target of Johnny Carson’s wit may be getting the last laugh.

Burbank, which has historically been ridiculed because of its longstanding inability and unwillingness to escape its small-town image by establishing a vibrant commercial center, has become the toast of developers and employers.

Among recent projects being planned or considered by city officials are:

* A $111-million shopping center for discount retailers by Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the largest retailer in the nation. Officials have said the complex would be one of the largest such centers in the nation. In dealing with Wal-Mart, the city rejected a proposal by another major developer for a $100-million shopping complex anchored by the Price Club, a Wal-Mart competitor.

* A $600-million, 1.8-million-square-foot expansion of Burbank-based Walt Disney Studios.

* A proposed 20,000-seat “state-of-the-art” sports arena that its developer hopes will attract a local professional sports franchise to the city.

* A planned electric car manufacturing facility by a group of Los Angeles elected officials, entrepreneurs and labor union leaders to make Burbank the hub of a future electric car industry in Southern California.

* A $70-million, 191,000-square-foot cancer treatment facility at St. Joseph Medical Center that is scheduled to be completed later this year.

Commercial real estate executives and consultants also point to the increasing recognition of the Media City Center, a $400-million indoor mall in downtown Burbank that includes the popular Ikea home furnishings store.

These projects and others have helped take the strain off Burbank’s troubled economy, which was shaken in recent months by the departure of several large industrial employers, including Lockheed Corp. The aerospace giant has begun moving a large part of its massive operations and transferring its headquarters to newer facilities in Palmdale, Rye Canyon in Santa Clarita and Marietta, Ga.

“Johnny Carson may still make jokes about Burbank, but it’s not really viable anymore,” said Mike Zugsmith, chairman of Zugsmith-Thind Inc., one of the largest commercial real estate brokers in Los Angeles. “Beautiful Downtown Burbank may well become Beautiful Downtown Burbank.”

Part of the credit is being given to city officials for aggressively seeking and dealing with employers and builders.

Throughout much of the 1980s, the Burbank City Council was mostly made up of members who said they did not want to encourage rampant development that would have an impact on the sanctity of residential communities.

But businessmen said that posture seems to have changed.

“Growth will always seek the path of least resistance,” Zugsmith said. “Burbank has positioned itself and presents itself as a hospitable environment for development. It’s similar to the way Glendale and, to a certain extent, Pasadena, have presented themselves.”

He added: “When a city that is this close to Los Angeles allows responsible development, developers will seek it out rather than go to someplace way out like Lancaster.”

A significant factor in the city’s search for developers and employers is the imminent availability of 300 acres of property owned by Lockheed, commercial real estate brokers said.

Mayor Michael R. Hastings said: “The city had the foresight when we saw the end coming that maybe it was time to get out there and be competitive in pursuing business. So when the end did come and Lockheed left, we were already on the street, talking to people.”

Seth Dudley, senior vice president of Julien J. Studley Inc., a major commercial brokerage firm, said: “It’s probably one of the only good urban areas that has an abundance of land.”

Along with the land comes a substantial work force from Burbank and the rest of the San Fernando Valley, experts said.

Machinists and engineers are just waiting for jobs, city officials pointed out.

The emergence of Burbank as a popular business center may appear abrupt. After all, it took the city almost two decades of failed promises and collapsed deals with various developers before the Media City Center was finally completed last year.

For most of those years, developer Ernest Hahn was unable to follow through on his promise to build the Towncenter shopping mall in downtown Burbank. A later proposal by the Walt Disney Co. to build a massive $600-million entertainment and shopping center downtown also fell through after the company decided the project was too expensive.

Despite the disappointments, commercial real estate executives said Burbank’s reputation has been growing the last four or five years.

“Frankly, I thought what’s happening now would happen a long time ago,” Dudley said. “But when you look at the future, developers are realizing that Burbank makes a lot of sense.”

Despite the city’s new-found popularity, not everyone is applauding--particularly Burbank residents who have long opposed what they see as rampant development.

Carolyn Berlin, who co-sponsored an unsuccessful initiative last year to slow development, said the proposed projects would have a negative impact on the quality of life in Burbank if they were all built. She said the projects could bring congestion and crime to the city.

“I believe without major protections, especially to divert traffic from residential neighborhoods, the effect of these projects will be devastating,” Berlin said. “I support bringing new jobs and new industries to replace Lockheed. But, on the other hand, there’s no question that these projects would hurt unless some major restrictions are required.”

One of the main keys to Burbank’s new status, according to observers, is its accessibility. The city is right off the Golden State and Hollywood freeways, and is less than half an hour from downtown Los Angeles. Burbank Airport is within its boundaries.

“As a location, Burbank has really come into its own,” Dudley said. “It has great proximity to the financial centers in the Valley and downtown. On the map, it just looks like a good spot.”

Also important is the increasing fortune and influence of several major television and motion picture studios headquartered in Burbank’s Media District, executives said.

In addition to Walt Disney Studios, Burbank is home to NBC Studios, where Carson tapes his nightly show, and Warner Bros.

The strength and stability of those studios have been the city’s salvation in the wake of its recent economic hardships, said Larry Kosmont, the city’s former community development director.

“Burbank has had a diverse economy, even though it didn’t know it,” said Kosmont, who now runs his own development consulting firm.

“The entertainment industry has kept it strong in these bad economic times,” he said. “It’s made the city vibrant and attractive. The foundation of the commercial development industry is corporate investment. Successful corporate investment attracts more corporate investment.”

Charles Peck, president of Los Angeles-based Cushman Investment & Development Corp., which built the 21-story Disney Channel Building and NBC Plaza in Burbank, agreed.

“It’s obvious that the major multimedia companies are there because of a long history, and they have built up major investments and a long-term commitment to the area. That is unique within Los Angeles, if not within the country.”