Management of Westwood Retail Project Changes Hands

One of the key players in the planned revitalization of Westwood Village has ceded direction of his firm’s massive retail development to a Cincinnati-based development group, a move that some observers say could alter the upscale project.

Retail developer Madison Marquette, headed by two former Federated Department Store Inc. executives, has signed an agreement to take over management and leasing of a collection of retail buildings from Larry Taylor’s Kristina Development Corp. of Malibu.

The properties, located primarily along Westwood Boulevard and Gayley Avenue, will continue to be majority-owned by investment firm Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, with Kristina retaining a stake, officials say.

“We think Westwood is a really exciting area, and it’s a great collection of real estate,” said Paul Heiss, a vice president with Madison Marquette in Beverly Hills. He declined to comment on whether his firm was given the option of earning a stake in the project.

Taylor insists that the design of the project and the timing will not change, but sources speculate it could affect the types of businesses they attract and when the shops would open.

Since early 1997, DLJ and Taylor have spent more than $50 million to purchase about 180,000 square feet of mainly one-story, street-front retail buildings in the village with the intent of redeveloping them and bringing in new, trendy tenants.

However, the buildings have been slow to lease, analysts say, primarily because of the high rents Taylor’s group is charging and the cost of upgrading them.