VAN NUYS : Medical Magnet School a Step Closer

The Los Angeles Board of Education voted Monday to begin negotiating with a private developer in a significant step toward establishing the San Fernando Valley’s first high school devoted exclusively to studies in medical science.

By a 4-2 vote, the board authorized an agreement with Pacific Alliance Realty, a Los Angeles-based developer, to craft a plan for a mixed-use facility on 4 1/2 acres at Vanowen Street and Columbus Avenue in Van Nuys, across from Valley Presbyterian Hospital.

The property, currently an agricultural site, is owned by the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The proposed mixed-use facility is expected to include a 98,000-square-foot medical magnet high school on the first floor, medical offices on the second floor and at least 200 apartments on the upper levels. The school would be the Valley’s first medical magnet campus, patterned after the school district’s Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet High School in the southeast area of Los Angeles.

Last month, as part of a private-public partnership with Valley Presbyterian, 120 students at Van Nuys High School began their studies in the school’s new medical magnet program. At the proposed high school--also to be developed in conjunction with the hospital--all students would concentrate on medical studies.

Board member Mark Slavkin opposed the exclusive agreement with Pacific Alliance, saying it limited options with other developers, but board member Roberta Weintraub said the district would not be bound to accept Pacific Alliance’s plan, which may be presented as soon as December.