STUDIO CITY : Negotiations Delay Start of Parking Lot

A proposed city parking lot has been delayed as negotiations between the city of Los Angeles and the property owners drag on.

Last December, it was announced that owners of land near the corner of Ventura and Laurel Canyon boulevards had agreed to sell 1.25 acres to the city, which intended to build a much-needed public parking lot there.

Nearly five months later, the two sides still have not opened escrow on the deal.

Richard W. Brown, the supervising city negotiator in the talks, blamed the delay on the complicated nature of the negotiations.

For one thing, Brown said, the city wants to buy only one part of the land owned by businessman Seymour Wolk and his partners, and wants to make sure it is not liable for any bank debt owed on the land.

According to Brown, the city Bureau of Engineering’s real estate division is waiting for Wolk to give them a document that confirms this, as well as word that the landlords have resolved lease issues with their tenants.

To build the parking lot, the city will have to raze a building that is occupied by tenants.

The city will pay to relocate the tenants, said Brown, adding that the city is always responsible for the costs when it displaces renters.

Brown said he did not know when the city and property owners would be able to open escrow.

“As of two weeks ago, (the landowners) could not give us a firm date as to when the paperwork would be lined up,” Brown said.

But he said he is confident the deal will eventually go through.

He said the city also was concerned that soil at the site might be contaminated by toxic chemicals from a paint store and former gas station nearby.

But a search of city records found the land was clean.

Karen Patterson, an administrator with the city Transportation Department’s off-street parking division, said she hoped the lot would be built by early next summer.

“It has taken a little longer than I expected,” Brown said, “but it’s not surprising that it’s taking this long.”

Business leaders bemoaned the snail’s pace of the talks, which capped a 30-year struggle for a public parking lot.

“It’s been very hard on us to wait,” said Sondra Frohlich, executive director of the Studio City Chamber of Commerce. “The community desperately needs additional parking space.”