Action at Studios Draws Reaction From Residents

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 highly successful, 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 popular venue opened in 1993 would serve as a precursor to a proposed 250,000-square-foot expansion of CityWalk included in the larger plan.

The CityWalk expansion will add nearly as much turf to the attraction as Universal had first proposed before it scaled back expansion plans a year ago, largely at the urging of nearby residents.

Construction could begin before the end of the year and could take up to two years, depending on the scope of the project.

“We’re very excited about this,” said Larry Kurzweil, senior vice president and general manager of CityWalk. “We’re going to take . . . the most magic center in the U.S. certainly to a higher level.”

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

The Phase II expansion is separate from the larger, more controversial proposal that would add a quarter-million square feet of space to CityWalk as part of an overall 3.3-million-square-foot growth spurt at Universal’s massive hilltop complex. The larger expansion, dubbed the “master plan,” would add office and retail space, hotel rooms, film production capacity and room for additional attractions at the studio theme park.

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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 now they are expected to go before the commission Oct. 7 and 14.

The Phase II expansion of CityWalk was approved by local regulators in 1989. When Universal put forward its master plan, outlining proposed development into the next millennium, it called for 358,000 additional 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 of space to CityWalk.

And while the existing venue has been popular with tourists and many locals--drawing about 10 million a year--at least one area resident thinks that taken together, the Phase II and master plan growth 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.”

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

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

As planned, Phase II would provide room for at least 20 new tenants, about half again as many as currently at CityWalk.

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.

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

Luchs said 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,” said Luchs, citing trouble she has had traveling through the area due to 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 the North Hollywood and Cahuenga Pass.”

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

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