$31.7-Million N. Hollywood Project OKd

The cornerstone development to rescue North Hollywood’s commercial core from blight won approval Thursday from the city redevelopment board.

The Community Redevelopment Agency agreed to provide $31.7 million in loans and subsidies to help launch the huge commercial and residential project next to the subway station.

To get the work started, the CRA board agreed Thursday to provide $14 million in loans and $17.7 million in grants and subsidies for the project.

The package is subject to final approval by the City Council, which is expected next week before the departure of Councilman Joel Wachs, who represents North Hollywood.

Groundbreaking is tentatively planned for May, with the first phase to be completed a year later.

Despite years of delays and a large scaling back of plans, the $194-million NoHo Commons project was hailed by business and community leaders as a way to revitalize the commercial core of North Hollywood along Lankershim Boulevard. The area fell into economic distress in the 1970s as shopping malls pulled customers away.

“The business center of North Hollywood is badly in need of rejuvenation,” Herbert Pencille, director of the Universal City/North Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, told the board. “The years have taken their toll, along with the [1994] earthquake. Many businesses have moved out. This project will greatly aid in the rejuvenation of the North Hollywood area.”

Developer Jerry Snyder and his partnership, SL NoHo, plan to build 810 apartments and lofts, 228,000 square feet of retail space, 200,000 square feet of office space, a community health center, a child care center and parking for 3,461 cars.

Although no one testified Thursday against the CRA package, some North Hollywood community leaders said they support the development but oppose providing so much public funding to a for-profit developer.

“It is corporate welfare,” said Victor Viereck, president of the North Hollywood Residents Assn. “It is a corporation getting money out of the government to do these things. I oppose that.”

Viereck said the private sector should be required to develop the project on its own.

But Cliff Goldstein, a managing partner in the project, said the CRA’s involvement was necessary to help buy the numerous properties involved and relocate the current occupants.

“If that was not the case, the market would have taken care of this property in the last 15 years,” Goldstein said.

City officials noted the CRA was specifically created to provide subsidies to developers as incentives to build in blighted areas of the city that they otherwise might not consider. “This is a real asset to Los Angeles,” CRA board member Chris Robert said of the project.

Goldstein promised a mix of shops, restaurants and housing that would create “a community, not just buildings,” with a key attraction being its proximity to the Red Line subway station in North Hollywood.

“We are very proud of this project,” he told the board. “We think this is an example and model for future revitalization in the city.”

A key feature of the development is a “community benefits plan” negotiated by labor and community activists in the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy and the Valley Jobs Coalition.

Under that plan, the developer agreed that at least 75% of the 1,600 jobs created by the project would pay a “living wage”--at least $7.99 an hour--and that the project would include a job training and placement center and child care facility. The project also meets a need for more affordable housing in the area, backers said.

As the main project for the CRA in North Hollywood, NoHo Commons was plagued by problems and delays until Snyder took over earlier this year.