CALABASAS : Park Centre Project Expansion Sought

The developers for a planned -million-square-foot office building, hotel and shopping center in Calabasas have asked the city to let them expand the project--a move city officials hope will open the door to a total reworking of the controversial plan.

The Calabasas Park Centre development was approved by Los Angeles County supervisors in 1989, despite protests from homeowners, who said the project would completely change the character of the area near the city’s historic core. The disgruntled homeowners helped lead the effort to incorporate the city a year later.

But, as the demand for office space dwindled, the development on 66 acres south of Calabasas Road between Park Granada Boulevard and Parkway Calabasas has remained in the planning stages.

Earlier this month, Park Centre Calabasas Associates submitted an application for a revised plan, which would add 100,000 square feet to the project, change the height limit from six to seven stories, allow more retail shops and extend the opportunity to build the project from 1999 to the year 2013.

City planners said they are eager for the chance to win back some of the concessions made to the developers during the approval process more than four years ago.

“We’re hoping this will serve as an opportunity for us to go back to the table and rework the whole plan, to try to get something that would work better in the community. . .,” said Calabasas Planning Director Steve Harris. “You ever play poker?”

The city’s Planning Commission has scheduled the first in a series of discussions on the matter for Thursday. Negotiations with the developers could begin later this summer.