Firm to Sell Land Near L.A. River for Park

A company planning to build an industrial project on land the governor and others hoped would become part of a proposed state park along the Los Angeles River has offered to sell the 30-acre parcel to an environmental group.

Urban park advocates who had been fighting the project near Dodger Stadium for years hailed the decision by Lennar Partners, saying it would provide an invaluable parcel for the long-awaited 103-acre park just northeast of downtown Los Angeles.

If approved by the state, the San Francisco-based environmental group American Land Conservancy would buy the land for $25.8 million, using state park bond money, and transfer the parcel to the state parks department.

The old Union Pacific railroad switching yard, known as the Taylor Yard, has become a focal point for conservationists and civil rights advocates hoping to revive the long neglected Los Angeles River and provide open space for the densely populated neighborhoods of Cypress Park.

The industrial project, and an adjacent restaurant and theater complex, were proposed for a 41-acre part of the yard along San Fernando Road. Park advocates hoped the land would be used for sports fields. The remaining 62 acres along the river would be transformed into a natural setting, with hiking and equestrian trails.

Although the fate of the proposed 11-acre entertainment complex is still being negotiated, a Los Angeles judge apparently rang the industrial project’s death knell in July. Judge David Yaffe threw out the city’s approval of the plan and said Lennar needed to conduct a full environmental review.

That meant the company had to go through a byzantine approval process again, this time in a political climate that had shifted dramatically against it. Mayor Richard Riordan and the district’s councilman, Mike Hernandez, who strongly supported the industrial project, were now gone, and the governor had designated $45 million in funds for the park.

“Once the court ruled in our favor, the handwriting was on the wall for Lennar,” said Joel Reynolds, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the plaintiffs that sued over the city’s approval of the project.

Company officials said the judge’s ruling had little to do with the decision to sell and that they would have simply needed to conduct an environmental impact report to proceed. “When Lennar began this process 2 1/2 years ago, jobs and retail seemed to be the needs of the community,” said Harvey Englander, a consultant for Lennar. “The sentiments of the community have changed.”

According to Lennar’s vice president of acquisitions, Gregory Morell: “While it has always been the intent of Lennar Partners to develop this property, in the interest of the community we have agreed to sell the land to the American Land Conservancy.”

Park advocates such as Friends of the Los Angeles River plan to orchestrate the purchase of other Union Pacific parcels as they become available in upcoming years.

Rusty Areias, state parks director, said that if the Lennar transaction is approved, the patch of land would be the seedling for Los Angeles’ first new state park in more than two decades. “This is not a lot of land for a state park,” he said. “But in Los Angeles it’s pretty big.”

Areias noted that the cost of property for urban parks is high. In December, the state paid $41.1 million for a 68-acre parcel in Baldwin Hills, with striking views of the city, as part of an effort to expand and transform an existing state park there. The governor said it was the most expensive urban park acquisition in state history.

The Lennar property, a weedy vacant lot, would cost even more per acre.

“The price never ceases to amaze me when you’re talking about open space in Los Angeles,” Areias said.