Fade In on 2 Ambitious Projects

The area flanking Mann’s Chinese Theatre would give rise to entertainment and shopping complexes under plans unveiled Thursday for two ambitious redevelopment projects considered key to Hollywood’s latest efforts to regain some of its long-faded luster.

Toronto-based TrizecHahn Corp., one of the largest real estate companies on the continent, hopes to erect a $145-million retail and entertainment center to the east of the historic Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, and a local partnership plans to build a smaller complex to the west in what is now a parking lot.

Lofty redevelopment plans for the same site have fallen through in the past. But city officials are enthusiastically backing the projects, and supporters say a host of factors--ranging from the approaching end of disruptive subway construction to the creation of a business improvement district--are pushing the area to the brink of revival.

“Hollywood has suffered through a lot of disappointment,” said David Malmuth, senior vice president of development for TrizecHahn Centers, which created Horton Plaza in San Diego. “We are all convinced now is the time for success.”

Months of negotiations between TrizecHahn and the Community Redevelopment Agency lie ahead, and the details of the project have yet to be decided. As now envisioned, the four-story complex would include about 300,000 square feet of entertainment and retail space, restaurants, as well as a number of common areas, including a grand staircase framing the “Hollywood” sign in the distance.

Although such standard mall fare as a 12-screen multiplex and food courts are planned, Malmuth said every effort will be made to fill the development with “unique, one-of-a kind” attractions for the tourists who faithfully troop to Hollywood now, only to find the place steeped in seediness, its only stars embedded in chewing-gum-caked sidewalks.

By way of example, Malmuth--who as an executive of Walt Disney Imagineering played a role in the recent revitalization of New York’s Times Square--said the complex could include working broadcast and music studios. Movie sets might be bolted onto facades. Stores operated by the studios could display film memorabilia.

Additionally, there are plans for a 1,000-seat cinema that could accommodate premieres, an upscale restaurant that could host parties after film openings, along with clubs and restaurants that would appeal to local residents.

“It will say ‘Hollywood,’ ” City Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg said at the breakfast at which the plans were unveiled. “New projects cannot look like they’ve been transplanted from a suburban mall.”

On the other side of the Chinese Theatre, Hollywood Orange Land LLC plans a $20-million complex that would include a 500-seat, large-screen theater, a restaurant and retail stores. A sculpture, 140 feet long and 45 feet tall, in the shape of the word “Hollywood,” would be built into the facade of the building.

The Hollywood Orange proposal is moving ahead without CRA assistance, unlike TrizecHahn’s.

One of three bidders to submit redevelopment proposals for the acreage east of the Chinese Theater, TrizecHahn was chosen, according to CRA documents, “based on the experience and capabilities of their strong development team; the financial capability of the developer to assemble the site and complete the development; and on the design quality of the proposed $145-million retail/entertainment complex.”

The Los Angeles City Council is scheduled to vote Wednesday to authorize the CRA to enter 180 days of exclusive negotiations with TrizecHahn to work out a redevelopment deal.

Malmuth declined to say what his company wanted, but city officials, who requested anonymity, indicated TrizecHahn is seeking city subsidies of about $10 million in the form of sidewalk widenings, garage construction and traffic improvements.

Any public subsidies would be recouped though parking and tax increments, according to the agreement proposal.

Along with striking a deal with the CRA, TrizecHahn must buy or lease property from various owners of the site, including the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which is building a subway station at the eastern end of the tract at Highland Avenue.

Goldberg, who represents Hollywood, embraced the TrizecHahn project as a great boost for the neighborhood. But she cautioned that many financial details remain to be discussed. “I think if we can figure out the number, which is not a small issue, this will be an extremely exciting project,” she said.

Compared with past proposals, the current one appears to tap into the reasons people come to Hollywood--to soak in movie lore, Goldberg said. For example, the flowing staircase reminds her of the set of a 1930s movie musical, and the retail shops will be selling studio wares.

“It’s got a certain panache to it that is very much in keeping with Hollywood,” Goldberg said. She predicted that the council will approve the negotiating period and that any neighborhood opposition will not be significant-- just “the same five or 10 people who think everything is no good.”

The site has a troubled history of shattered hopes and abandoned projects.

In 1992, a long-planned Hollywood Promenade died, battered by the recession and by political controversy over $48 million in city subsidies. Billed as 1 million square feet of shops, restaurants, movie theaters, offices and a hotel, wrapped around the tourism magnet that is Mann’s Chinese, it was the brainchild of Melvin Simon & Associates, one of the nation’s largest commercial developers.

The year before, a related plan for 1,000 housing units and major office and retail spaces next to the subway station collapsed.

Those failed plans were “quite a disappointment for the community,” said Marc Wanamaker, a Hollywood historian who advises neighborhood and preservation groups and strongly supports the new proposal.

The new projects would, he said, add to other improvements, such as the recently opened Hollywood Entertainment Museum a block to the west and Disney’s renovated El Capitan Theatre across the boulevard. The projects could also encourage a rebirth of struggling areas to the east.

Wanamaker also praised the proposal for ensuring the preservation of the landmark Chinese Theatre. “They can do whatever else they want around those parking lots here,” he said. “It will only help, not hinder. I don’t see any negatives to it.”

Neighbors also want to see the boulevard improved, but they expressed some fears about the impact on traffic in the already clogged Highland Avenue corridor. Even without the new plan, Highland is expected to experience more congestion as a result of new development at Universal City to the north, said USC professor Jeffrey Chusid, a board member of the Hollywood Heights Assn.

Laurie Jacobson, a Hollywood activist and author, said she was encouraged by the plan. Success of the El Capitan showed that “if you give people a safe and attractive place to spend their money, I do believe they will come back to Hollywood,” she said. Today, she said, visitors to that beautifully restored theater and the nearby Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel “can’t walk a block away without being a little frightened.”

Chris Shabel, president of the Hollywood Stakeholders Alliance, a collection of local organizations, was not so enthusiastic.

She had not seen the plans. But told they included movie theaters, she said she worried the area would be turned into a clone of the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica.

“It would be nice to see something” developed, she said. “But unfortunately we’re just getting what every other city is getting. Hollywood is a little more unique.”