$140-Million Valley Plaza Expansion Proposed
A developer has proposed a $140-million expansion and refurbishing of Valley Plaza in North Hollywood, one of the San Fernando Valley’s oldest outdoor shopping centers, with 828,000 square feet of new stores, theaters and office buildings.
The plan by J.h Snyder Co. is aimed at reviving the 47-acre center, parts of which were heavily damaged in the Northridge quake, and which, aside from a popular Sears store, has had trouble keeping many of its storefronts filled.
“It would be a total redevelopment of an area that needs a lot of work,” said Jerry Snyder, the president of the development firm.
The company, selected by the Community Redevelopment Agency from competing developers, proposed leaving the Sears store and a historic Wells Fargo Bank clock tower and expanding an existing Ralphs supermarket, but demolishing some of the other buildings before constructing new stores and offices. In the end, the shopping center would include 1.04 million square feet of stores, offices, theaters and restaurants.
The plaza, west of Laurel Canyon Boulevard and east of the Hollywood Freeway, now has about 125 businesses in about 800,000 square feet of buildings.
It was completed in the 1940s by developer Bob Symonds and was a centerpiece of Valley commerce through the 1970s.
Snyder proposed a pedestrian-friendly outdoor shopping center with stylized new buildings. Snyder said he has hired Jerde Partnership International, the architectural firm that worked on Universal CityWalk and San Diego’s Horton Plaza, to design the project.
The Valley Plaza proposal includes a multiscreen movie theater, bookstores, cafes and restaurants, large plazas and fountains. Snyder has proposed to replace a 27-year-old office building occupied by Century National Insurance Co. with a new 100,000-square-foot headquarters.
When complete, the project would provide about 1,120 new jobs for a total of 2,228 on-site jobs, according to the redevelopment agency administrator, Jerry Scharlin.
“This project is a major step in reviving both Valley Plaza and the Laurel Canyon commercial corridor,” Scharlin said. “Valley Plaza, once the jewel of the San Fernando Valley, is barely functioning.”
Scharlin recommended in a report released Tuesday that Snyder be empowered to negotiate exclusively with the redevelopment agency on a new development agreement after his proposal was judged the best of those submitted by competing developers.
The agency board is scheduled to consider Snyder’s proposal, as well as whether to seek the power to condemn properties in the area, if necessary.
Snyder said he has agreements to buy 20% of the properties and is in talks to buy a majority of the parcels both north and south of Victory Boulevard.
Redevelopment officials said getting the 37 different owners of parcels in the plaza to agree to the project will be a challenge.
Tenants said they have been provided with few details of the proposal.
Rodney Payne, an owner of From the Ground Up Boutique, which has sold African jewelry, hair products and clothing for four years on Bellingham Avenue, had questions about the effects on his business.
“They’re supposed to offer relocation fees, but what’s that?” he asked. “What about the good will and the customers’ trust that you built up over the years?”
Redevelopment might interrupt the flow of repeat customers Marina Vasquez has created over the past three years as co-owner of Col’s Flower and Party Shop.
She said the store, which displays signs in English and Spanish, has provided party supplies for nearly 30 years under different owners.
“If we move, we’ll have to start all over again,” she said.
A representative of the developer briefed a group of property owners on the project Tuesday. Afterward, a spokesman for the owners in attendance backed the tentative project.
“We are very supportive of the Snyder proposal,” said Chuck LeRoy, a property manager for Anchor Management. “If it doesn’t happen, this area is going to deteriorate even more.”
