Developer Plans Revamp of Valley Plaza Mall

Los Angeles-based developer Ira Smedra, whose proposed $84-million Village Center Westwood retail-theater complex is embroiled in controversy, is acquiring properties at Valley Plaza in North Hollywood and hopes to begin a major rehabilitation of the plaza later this year, sources close to the developer said.

The revamping of Valley Plaza, one of the oldest outdoor malls in Los Angeles and the scene of an infamous 1997 shootout between police and heavily armed bank robbers, would begin with a vacant parcel near the Hollywood Freeway. That site once held a JCPenney store, which closed after the Northridge earthquake in 1994.

Smedra, who also developed Laurel Promenade mall in Studio City, said he did not want to reveal details of his plans for the plaza, which is home to T-shirt and thrift shops, an auto parts store and a busy Sears, Roebuck & Co. store.

“We are looking at some potential opportunities in the area for a new project,” Smedra said.

But a source close to the development said Smedra’s company, Arba Group, has “under contract” all vacant parcels around the old JCPenney store and a number of additional parcels elsewhere on the strip, which stretches along Laurel Canyon Boulevard from south of Victory Boulevard to Archwood Street.

“The group is moving forward with the redevelopment of [the Penney’s] area as phase one,” said the source, who asked not to be named. He said construction could begin in eight months on a development that would include six to eight stores and some national retailers.

Because plans for the development are in flux, no dollar value or estimated size of the project are immediately available.

Los Angeles City Councilman Joel Wachs, who represents the area, said last week that another developer, whom he declined to name, has expressed strong interest in re-creating a commercial development in nearby Laurel Plaza, a shopping complex that was devastated by the Northridge temblor. A Robinsons-May store is all that remains of that mall.

“There is active interest in a development there,” said Wachs, who said he has reviewed several proposals for the two areas.

The Valley Plaza project is one of several local redevelopment efforts for Smedra, whose plans for a large-scale shopping center on Glendon Avenue in Westwood have been opposed by nearby residents, who have raised concerns about parking and congestion and object to the proposed conversion of Glendon Avenue to a pedestrian mall.

Upscale Westwood and work-a-day North Hollywood may seem like strange bedfellows, but both areas are struggling to recapture some of their earlier retail success.

“We do projects all over the place,” said Smedra, who also is involved in a redevelopment effort near Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza. “We go where there’s an opportunity.”