N. Hollywood Project Gets a Jump Start
Opening a fresh chapter for a troubled redevelopment project in North Hollywood, a new developer took control of the faltering proposal and pledged Wednesday to build a complex of retail stores, offices, housing and possibly a much-needed high school on the blighted strip.
Jerry Snyder, a veteran Los Angeles-based developer flush with the financial backing of a real estate investment firm, sketched the outlines of his rescue plan at a meeting of the Community Redevelopment Agency board, eliciting broad smiles from board members who had often voiced skepticism about the lagging pace of the project.
“We’re extremely pleased,” said Peggy Moore, chairwoman of the panel. “We had certain expectations and they were not being met. It was dragging out. So we are delighted.”
Snyder’s involvement breathes new life into NoHo Commons, a $361-million project that has gathered dust on the drawing board as the original developer, J. Allen Radford, sought financing and tenants. The city had been working exclusively with Radford for 18 months.
Once envisioned as a movie studio and commercial hub linked to the resurrection of North Hollywood, the project was hobbled by repeated setbacks and missed deadlines. Radford originally proposed 4 million square feet of development, only to slash his plans in half when the market tightened. He dropped plans for sound stages, condominiums and a 14-screen movie theater.
As pressure mounted on Radford to reach a deal with a financial partner, the developer agreed to sign over rights to the 23-acre property this week to Snyder’s firm, J.H. Snyder Co., in exchange for a 12.5% stake in the project.
“I promised you last week that I’d get you the agreements on time and I believe I did,” Snyder told the CRA board. “Even though this has been dragging out for some time . . . the environmental impact report is certified. We have community support.”
Snyder, a dapper 71-year-old with potent political and financial connections, has a long history of commercial real estate development. His firm built the lavish Wilshire Courtyard office property in the Miracle Mile area and the Water Garden campus in Santa Monica, and is working on the $140-million redevelopment of Valley Plaza, a dilapidated shopping center a few miles northwest of the NoHo site.
“We’re forming a new partnership, and Jerry’s company will take the lead,” Radford said Wednesday. “I have other fish to fry. He’s out there with the Valley Plaza now, so it makes sense that he coordinates both [projects].”
Several members of the Valley Jobs Coalition, a group advocating living wages for the 4,000 jobs the redevelopment project could create, testified in support of Snyder’s plan--provided he include a child-care center and other employee services. The coalition had previously won a series of pledges from Radford, said Roxane Auer, a research analyst for the group.
Noting that his firm was one of the first developers to sign agreements with striking janitors, Snyder promised to work with the jobs coalition.
Snyder said he hopes to incorporate a new high school into the NoHo project, possibly on a six-acre Caltrans lot used for maintenance and parking at Vineland Avenue and Cumpston Street. The school would require roughly twice that space, but Snyder suggested that the Los Angeles Unified School District could condemn several acres to the north of the Caltrans parcel to make up the difference.
School district officials are still discussing options for the site with Snyder, Caltrans and CRA officials, as well as other stakeholders, said Robert Buxbaum, the district’s interim general manager of facilities.
“That neighborhood desperately needs a new high school and there are a limited number of large, open sites,” Buxbaum said. “At the moment, we’re trying to look at the whole area, an area that is going to be substantially redeveloped, and figure out how to fit a high school into the plan.”
Snyder offered limited details about his revised project, to be built between Lankershim Boulevard and Vineland Avenue beside the new Metro Rail subway station that opened last year. He said he was still considering a movie theater for the site and promised to produce designs for the project within 60 days.
“Things are really moving ahead. After a series of stops and starts, it appears that we have a developer with broad support and a proven track record,” said Coby King, a CRA board member. “While it came together kind of at the last minute, it appears to be a fortuitous match.”
