$200-Million Expansion Plan at CSUN Collapses

A landmark partnership between Cal State Northridge and a private developer to build $200 million in commercial and campus improvements on 100 acres of university-owned land has been axed, the victim of an ailing economy, school officials said Wednesday.

The death of the project is seen as a major blow to the Northridge campus, which had hoped to tap into private funds for an ambitious expansion but now faces a struggle to maintain its current academic programs because of looming state budget cuts.

CSUN and Watt Industries Inc. had joined forces in 1987 to create University Park--a sprawling complex that was to include 360,000 square feet of office space, a 225-room hotel, 20,000-seat athletic stadium, restaurants and campus theaters.

Under the arrangement, Watt Industries agreed to lease state-owned university land, build the project and share a portion of the rent from future tenants with the university. The school had planned to use its share of the money to pay for campus improvements that it otherwise could not afford.

Dissolution of the partnership--which was to have been the largest such venture in the history of the 20-campus Cal State University system--was announced in a brief written statement by associate Vice President Bill Chatham in response to inquiries from The Times.

“This regrettable, but amiable, parting creates an opportunity for us to review the timing and implementation of the project and other options for financing,” Chatham said. “At this state, we are not reissuing rebids.”

Chatham said Watt Industries withdrew from the partnership on June 5 “due to the state of the economy.”

Jim Wadsworth, president of Watt Industries Inc., said he would not comment on the reason his firm pulled out of the deal.

In addition to economic troubles, CSUN officials have for three years been unable to reach agreement with Los Angeles planning officials over the development. Planners had argued that University Park required their approval over details such as traffic improvements. University officials had hoped to minimize city involvement by arguing Los Angeles had no jurisdiction over the development of state property.

“No agreement was ever reached,” said Ali Sar, spokesman for Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson, who represents the area. “The file is still in the city attorney’s office.”

The development was planned for the northern portion of the campus, north of Lassen Street and south of Devonshire Street, between Lindley and Zelzah avenues. Plans for the site forced the San Fernando Valley Fair to move from its longtime home at Devonshire Downs.

Campus officials and faculty familiar with the project say its demise is likely to be a major disappointment to retiring CSUN President James W. Cleary, who conceived the plan as a way to raise the status of the university as a major cultural and academic institution.

“There has been a great deal of frustration on the campus about the fact that it is a large institution with many fine programs, but because it is newer, it does not have an image that many people are aware of,” said Bonita Campbell, chairwoman of the school’s civil and industrial engineering and applied mechanics department and a former associate vice president at the school. “The project was intended to provide a focus for cultural events in the San Fernando Valley region.”

Cleary and other senior administrators did not return telephone calls.

The project was to include a hotel and 20,000-square-foot conference center that campus administrators had hoped would be the site of academic conferences. Two performing arts centers were also envisioned, with the larger to accommodate 2,000 people.

An institute for advanced technology--essentially a research laboratory for faculty and students--was also being considered, said Dan Blake, a CSUN economics professor and chairman of the University Park Oversight Committee.

“The project was a gamble in the sense that no universities in California had done this before,” Blake said. “The problem between the city and the university might have been worked out if there was some experience doing this. But it was new ground and it ran into this economy that’s like a buzz saw to development plans.”

The apparent end to the ambitious campus expansion comes as CSUN faces state budget cuts that could force layoffs to more than one-third of its teaching staff. The decision on whether to revive the project will now rest with incoming President Blenda J. Wilson, who is visiting the campus today and Friday to meet with administrators and faculty representatives.

Wilson--who is now chancellor of the University of Michigan at Dearborn--takes over as CSUN president Sept. 8.

Bob Hiegart, CSUN’s athletic director, said the news throws a wrench into plans for a new athletic stadium to house football and soccer, part of the school’s move to NCAA Division I competition.

Now, Hiegart said, the department will have to raise money to renovate the current field at Devonshire Downs.

Meanwhile, performing arts and music students are apparently going to lose two facilities, including a 2,000-seat auditorium that was to be included in the development.

The campus now has only a 400-seat theater.

“It’s a setback, no doubt about it,” said Jerry Luedders, chairman of the music department.

* SCHOOL PROBLEMS: Ban on new students at four campuses criticized. A3

Stadium project scrapped. C8