Entertainment Firm Takes Issue With City, Pulls Out of Promenade Deal

Opposition to a requirement that the city review its operation after a year and a half in business killed Jillian’s, the entertainment center planned as the focus of a renovated Westfield Shoppingtown Promenade, officials said.

Jillian’s Entertainment Holdings Inc. has pulled the plug on its 67,000-square-foot proposal for a center offering bowling, billiards, dancing, video games and alcohol sales, said Catharine Dickey, spokeswoman for Los Angeles-based Westfield America Corp., which owns the mall.

According to the permit approved in November by the South Valley Area Planning Commission, Jillian’s would have automatically been reviewed by the city 18 months after it opened.

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Laura Chick, who spoke in favor of Jillian’s at November’s Planning Commission public hearing, said Thursday she would have again “gone to bat for them” had the company asked.

“I didn’t feel that a year-and-a-half review was needed. I felt our revocation process was adequate to protect the community,” Chick said. “But I understand that it didn’t make sense [to them] to create an uncertainty like that.”

Commercial real estate broker Bill Ripberger, who is co-chairman of the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn.’s land-use committee, said he is disappointed that Jillian’s won’t be coming to the West Valley but he understands the decision.

“They can’t be in a position where someone can come in a year and half later and shut them down. They didn’t want to take the risk. It was a business decision,” said Ripberger, whose clients include Westfield.

The 18-month review condition was imposed by a zoning administrator in May and was appealed by Jillian’s. Dickey could not say why the company did not appeal the Planning Commission’s November decision to enforce the 18-month review. She added that Jillian’s recent announcement had been expected for some time.

Westfield in May announced its plans for a $35-million upgrade to transform the mall’s ground floor into a retail/entertainment center. Mall officials said Thursday that construction of Jillian’s had not been started. Other renovation work is continuing.

Several attempts to reach the president of Jillian’s at company headquarters in Louisville, Ky., or its West Coast vice president of operations were unsuccessful.

According to its Web site, Jillian’s operates 38 locations nationwide, including the 28,000-square-foot Hi-Life Lanes that opened in April at Universal CityWalk and includes 10 bowling lanes, two bars, dining and a game room.

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Some other West Valley restaurants that sell alcohol have the type of automatic reviews that Jillian’s would have had, Woodland Hills Homeowners Organization President Gordon Murley said.

“If you’re as good as you say you are, why should a review be a problem?” Murley asked. “I’m not sure that is all of the picture. It’s just an easy [reason] to say.”

Murley said he saw seven presentations--none the same--on the proposed entertainment center.

“The project changed every time--the number of square feet, how they were going to do things, how they were going to make sure underage people didn’t buy alcohol,” he said. “I always wondered in the back of my mind whether they would ever complete it.”

Although Jillian’s won’t be a tenant, Barnes & Noble bookstore, an Italian restaurant called Maggiano’s and the Corner Bakery have signed leases and “are in good shape,” Dickey said.

She said she hopes to announce replacement tenants soon.