Universal Set to Begin Expansion of CityWalk Area

As the county continues to study Universal Studios’ proposed $1-billion expansion plan, the entertainment giant is preparing to begin construction on another major addition to CityWalk, its popular neon-splashed town square.

Within the next few weeks, Universal is expected to select a general contractor for the long-planned Phase II project, which will create a 90,000-square-foot retailing, restaurant and entertainment strip just east of the Cineplex Odeon theaters, near the Hard Rock Cafe.

The first major expansion since the venue opened in 1993 would serve as a precursor to a proposed 250,000-square-foot expansion of CityWalk included in the larger plan, which calls for a 3.3-million-square-foot addition.

The Phase II CityWalk expansion will help add nearly as much to the attraction as Universal had proposed before it scaled back its expansion plans a year ago, largely at the urging of neighbors.

Construction could begin before the end of the year and take up to two years to complete.

“We’re very excited about this,” said Larry Kurzweil, senior vice president and general manager of CityWalk.

Kurzweil declined to reveal the cost of the expansion or the anticipated mix of tenants.

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The Phase II project is separate from the larger, more controversial proposal that would add a quarter-million square feet of space to CityWalk as part of the overall expansion.

The larger expansion, called the master plan, would add office and retail space, hotel rooms, film production capacity and room for additional attractions at the studio theme park.

Before the larger project can move forward, two linchpin documents must be approved by the Los Angeles Regional Planning Commission--a draft of the final environmental impact report and the revised specific plan, which sets ground rules on everything from structure height to noise for the mammoth project.

Commission staff had hoped to have those documents ready for review this summer, but that schedule proved overly optimistic. The matter is now expected to come before the commission in meetings Oct. 7 and 14.

The Phase II expansion of CityWalk was approved by regulators in 1989. When Universal put forward its master plan, outlining proposed development into the next millennium, it called for an additional 358,000 square feet of space at CityWalk. After a series of raucous public meetings, Universal scaled back the overall scope of the project by 40%, cutting the proposed expansion of CityWalk by 30%.

Taken together, Phase II and the proposed increase in the master plan would add 340,000 square feet to CityWalk.

And while the existing venue has been popular with tourists and residents, drawing an estimated 10 million people a year, at least one neighbor believes that, taken together, Phase II and the master plan amount to too much of a good thing.

“Enough is enough,” said Tony Lucente, president of the Studio City Residents Assn. “And 90,000 plus 250,000 is too much. Whether they include it as separate [from the larger project] or not, the net impact on the neighbors is the same.”

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Lucente, who has been among the most outspoken neighbors on the larger expansion project, said he has known about the Phase II expansion all along. But he said that when Universal came out with the master plan, he assumed it included the Phase II expansion figures.

“We knew it was a multiphased project,” Lucente said. “But we really did think [Phase II] was folded into the master plan.”

Phase II would provide room for at least 20 new tenants. Asked about neighbors’ concerns about increased traffic and noise, a Universal official said there would be no additional noise or traffic problems because of infrastructure the company already has in place to mitigate such problems.

But Joan Luchs, who heads the development committee for the North Hollywood Residents Assn., called that statement “a complete misrepresentation of the truth.”

Luchs said that in principle she has no problem with CityWalk expansion, but is concerned about what she sees as Universal’s reluctance to own up to noise and traffic problems and fix them.

“Universal denies and minimizes,” Luchs said, citing trouble she has had traveling through the area because of increased traffic.

“If you add close to 100,000 square feet on top of what’s already there, [without additional mitigation] it will be a tragedy for North Hollywood and the Cahuenga Pass.”

Universal’s headquarters was the site of a noisy protest this month as a coalition, made up largely of union groups, pushed to have Universal commit to paying a “living wage” to employees and requesting that its future contractors and tenants do likewise.

Universal officials declined to comment on whether wage policies have been discussed with potential contractors and tenants, with one official saying: “We’re dealing with labor negotiations with [unions] and we believe that this is unrelated to the build-out at CityWalk.”