Developer Agrees to Living-Wage Goal

The Valley Jobs Coalition has reached a tentative compromise with the developer of a proposed large commercial and office complex next to the North Hollywood subway station, dropping demands that all tenants pay living wages as a condition of city subsidies, a coalition official said Friday.

Developer J. Allen Radford has instead agreed to attempt to find tenants who pay a living wage and provide the coalition with access to all tenants for an education effort on the benefits of paying a living wage, said Cameron Levin, an organizer for the coalition.

“The living wage goal we agreed on was for him to find as many living wage tenants as he could,” Levin said.

In addition, Radford has agreed to the coalition’s demands to provide facilities for child care and a program that hires local residents.

Radford plans to build 1.8 million square feet of shops and offices south and east of the subway station in what has become the cornerstone project of the Community Redevelopment Agency’s effort to revitalize the commercial core of North Hollywood.