Private Funds May Pay for Van Nuys City Hall

A feasibility study on a bold new plan to renovate the aging Van Nuys Civic Center released Wednesday said the project could be financed through a combination of private funding and savings that would be realized by consolidating city office space.

The plan, which has been spearheaded by Councilman Marvin Braude, calls for a new 100,000-square-foot City Hall and a three-level parking structure surrounded by retail and food shops in an open-air pedestrian plaza.

Funding for the project would mostly come from private firms willing to make the renovations in exchange for the right to lease the property for retail, office and restaurant space for 30 years.

Some funding can also come by consolidating city office space, selling off adjacent city-owned parking lots and using federal earthquake repair funds to replace the earthquake-damaged City Hall, according to the report by the Santa Monica consulting group Gensler & Associates.

But the report also warned “the market for substantial new upscale commercial development in the area is limited” and that success of the plan relies on public projects to revitalize the surrounding area.

“Without public intervention, the likelihood of a ‘renaissance’ is unlikely,” the report said.

A similar renovation plan proposed in 1991 was shelved after no private developers offered to bid on the project. At the time, city officials said the project fell victim to a faltering real estate market and developer unwillingness to invest on troubled Van Nuys Boulevard.

But Braude said he is confident the economy has rebounded and that other efforts to revitalize the boulevard--such as plans to build a major shopping center at the nearby General Motors plant site--will make the project viable.

“It’s feasible in every respect, and it makes economic sense,” he said. “It will give the San Fernando Valley a sense of pride and will bring more and more public policy decisions to the Valley.”

Daniel Rosenfeld, who oversees the city’s real estate holdings, said he helped develop similar private-public partnerships in his former job as manager of the state’s real estate holdings.

He estimated that groundbreaking for the project could occur in 1998.

Rosenfeld said the project would save the city money by moving city workers who lease office space throughout the Valley to the renovated civic center.

The report said the city spends nearly $1 million annually to rent nearly 20,000 square feet of office space in buildings within three miles of the Van Nuys Civic Center.

In addition, the report said that other money can be generated by selling off four city-owned parking lots near the civic center that appear to often be vacant.

The project would be built in four phases:

The first phase calls for the construction of a three-level parking structure with 400 spaces for the LAPD’s Van Nuys Division. Funding has already been set aside from voter-approved bonds dedicated to expand and improve police facilities.

The second phase calls for a six-story, 100,000-square-foot City Hall with 20,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor. Parking will be provided at an adjacent three-level, 450-space parking structure.

The third phase would include a six-story, 100,000-square-foot government building to consolidate scattered government offices. The current City Hall can either be demolished or renovated to house the Van Nuys Library.

The fourth phase proposes additional government buildings or a “courtyard apartment” complex. The Gensler report did not study financing ideas for this phase.

The City Council is expected to vote to seek private bids for the project in October or November. Development plans are expected to be returned to the city by mid-1997, with construction starting in 1998.