Part of Mall Could Reopen in 6 Months : Retail: Some Northridge Fashion Center stores could stay shut longer. Asbestos is the obstacle.

The quake-ravaged Northridge Fashion Center will partially reopen within about six months, the shopping mall’s new owners told tenants Wednesday.

But some of the mall’s six big department stores could remain closed for a year or two.

The biggest obstacle to the reopening now is not the condemned Bullock’s department store and two collapsed parking structures, or the cartloads of broken glass, fallen ceiling tiles, cracked drywall and mangled aluminum wall studs.

It’s the asbestos that was dislodged by last week’s massive earthquake. The mall is only about one mile from the quake’s epicenter.

When the shopping center was built in 1971 the structural steel in the ceilings was sprayed with asbestos for insulation.

About 75% of the cancer-causing substance was removed over the years, but asbestos remains in 40 to 50 stores and parts of the common areas of the mall, said John Graham, vice president of property management at MEPC America Properties Inc. MEPC just bought the Northridge mall in December.

MEPC had planned to renovate the shopping center within two years and would have removed any asbestos disturbed by the construction.

“Nature has sped up the timetable,” Graham said. “Because of the damage, our intention now is to clean all the asbestos out instead of doing it piecemeal.”

Asbestos is thought to be safe in buildings if it remains undisturbed, but it can pose a health hazard if it is released into the air.

MEPC, based in Dallas, is a subsidiary of MEPC PLC, a British real estate concern with $5 billion in properties worldwide.

Last month the company acquired American Properties Trust, the owner of Northridge Fashion Center and other commercial properties, for $302 million from a group of British pension funds.

The Northridge Fashion Center, with $350 million in total annual sales, is one of Southern California’s largest shopping centers.

Its sales per square foot--a common retail industry benchmark--were a relatively high $310.

Graham said MEPC has earthquake insurance, but declined to say what damages might be covered.

Matthew Peller, senior vice president at Associated International Insurance Co. in Woodland Hills, said his company insured part of the Northridge mall and it could cost $35 million just to rebuild the two caved-in parking garages.

MEPC also has business interruption insurance that will cover it for the loss of rent while the mall is closed, Graham said.

But tenants are responsible for fixing any damages inside their shops, he said.

On Wednesday, in a packed ballroom at the Airtel Plaza Hotel in Van Nuys, tenants were told by MEPC officials that there was minimal structural damage to the central part of the Northridge mall, apart from the department stores.

It hasn’t been decided yet how many stores it will take to justify reopening part of the mall.

About 2,500 workers were employed at the mall.

After the tenants’ meeting, about 20 merchants were allowed into the Northridge mall for the first time since the quake in areas that were found to be free of asbestos. They were allowed half-hour visits to inspect their stores and remove cash and certain items. Another 40 shop owners or managers were to be allowed in today, but mall officials said they didn’t know when the retailers would be able to begin their cleanup.

Graham also said he didn’t know how long it would take to rebuild the caved-in parking structures.

Two other parking decks also sustained structural damage, but engineers had not yet reported to him the severity of those damages, he said.

Some of the department stores were hard hit by earthquake damage.

Betty Crogh, a Bullock’s spokeswoman, said it hasn’t been decided if the collapsed Northridge store will be rebuilt.

A new Bullock’s would take up to 18 months to build, Crogh said. Bullock’s and its parent, R. H. Macy & Co. Inc., is “in discussions” with MEPC, she said.

Meanwhile, the J. C. Penney store may not reopen for more than a year, store officials said. Although part of the fourth floor collapsed and there is extensive water damage, the store does not need to be entirely rebuilt, said company spokeswoman Nancy Dickson.

Sears is aiming for a late-fall reopening, said company spokesman Gordon Jones.

Officials at Robinsons-May, which has two stores at Northridge Fashion Center, and officials at the Broadway said they were still assessing damage and didn’t know how long their stores would be closed.

The department stores said they were trying to find jobs for their employees at other stores.

Inside the mall, the main passageways and common areas have been swept clean of the broken glass, fallen ceiling tiles and merchandise that had crashed through the storefronts.

Plastic sheets covered the stores.

The lights were on and Muzak continued to play in the background.

Outside in the parking lot, the mall staff worked out of trailers.

As they left the tenants meeting, shopkeepers worried about what they might find behind the plastic sheets.

Those likely to be hardest hit are the small proprietors that are not part of a large chain.

Harry Duhanci, owner of the Caprice collectibles shop, said he has no earthquake insurance. After looking into it three years ago, he found that such coverage would have tripled his insurance payments.

Now the loss of his business, even temporarily, is “like a second earthquake,” he said.

Duhanci hopes that his will be one of the first stores to reopen because it is already free of asbestos.

But even without having seen the damage at the store, he figures that all his merchandise--including a collection of expensive figurines--was “totaled.”

Mall workers also worried about their future.

Nancy Mather, an employee at Country Works, a collectibles shop in the Northridge mall, said she has already filed for unemployment and will start looking for another job. “Everyone is in the same boat. With so many other people looking, I don’t know what my options are.”

Zach Rouse, a Chatsworth High School senior who works at Waldenbooks, said he is hoping to find work at another bookstore in the chain. “I need the cash,” he said.

“It’s traumatic,” said Nicole Yaro, a Moorpark College junior who worked at one of the Northridge Robinsons-May stores. Yaro was asked by store management to remain “on-call,” but she said she wasn’t optimistic about her chances of being placed at another store.

“I have bills to pay from Christmas. I don’t want to go on unemployment. I want a job,” Yaro said.

However, earlier this week some of the businesses on the outskirts of the shopping center property did reopen, including a Cocos restaurant, Great Western Bank and Bank of America branches, and the Broadway Goodyear Automotive Center.

Meanwhile, other local malls continued with their earthquake recovery efforts.

Topanga Plaza in Canoga Park plans to reopen Friday, although its four department stores will remain closed anywhere from a few weeks to a few months.

Saks Fifth Avenue on Wednesday said it would not reopen its earthquake-damaged store at the Promenade shopping center in Woodland Hills, a decision that will idle 131 employees.

The temblor tore Saks’ roof, separated walls and created faults in the building, which was opened in 1972.

The retailer had no precise estimate of reconstruction costs, but said the damage was substantial. “The repair costs would have been prohibitive,” said Saks Vice Chairman Gary Witkin, who visited the store Wednesday to survey the damage.

Saks will offer severance pay, extended benefits and job placement assistance to the store’s employees, Witkin said. Store employees who want to remain with the company will be given preference for jobs at other Saks locations when openings occur, Witkin said.

Times staff writer George White contributed to this story.