Panel OKs Project at Racquet Center Site

Despite hearing several Studio City residents speaking in opposition to a developer’s plan to replace the Racquet Center with a shopping center, a City Council panel approved a zoning change and an amendment to a district plan Tuesday.

The action clears the way for developer Tom Von Der Ahe to continue planning the project--a 94,000-square-foot center, anchored by a 55,000-square-foot Ralphs market.

Von Der Ahe said Tuesday that he began looking at bulldozing the 22-year-old center three years ago, when he said people lost interest in tennis and racquetball and business slowed.

The Planning and Land Use Committee agreed to allow the land at Vineland Avenue and Ventura Boulevard to be used for the center, but put several conditions on the future planning of the project.

Studio City residents said they were most pleased that conditions included a new traffic signal that would aid in motorists making a left turn into the project and prohibited motorists from making a left turn onto Ventura Boulevard.

Despite the recent debate over the merger of Ralphs and Hughes Family Markets, which would result in a monopoly for the former in Studio City, the residents did not voice objections to the project on those grounds.

Instead, they said they were concerned about traffic and the size and scope of the project.

“The community on the surface does not oppose the project going in,” said Tony Lucente, president of Studio City Residents Assn. “While we regret the loss of a highly used sports facility, we understand that things change.”

He said the association has yet to take a position on the project because of insufficient information from the developer.

Von Der Ahe said he was waiting to determine if the shopping center would be allowed on the site before he draws up concrete plans.

In addition to Ralphs, Von Der Ahe said the project would include a 16,000-square-foot drugstore, a video store, a dry cleaner and a restaurant.