Upscale Project for Glendale Stirs Up a Mall Squall

Rick Caruso, who has made a fortune developing opulent, super-size outdoor shopping centers, may be facing his most daunting challenge yet, as he tries to bring his upscale vision to downtown Glendale.

The man responsible for putting the Grove next to Farmers Market in Los Angeles wants to build the Town Center, a $200-million retail and residential complex across the street from the massive Glendale Galleria.

The problem is that the management of General Growth Properties, which owns the Galleria and 161 other regional shopping centers, isn’t keen on Caruso’s plans. The Town Center, as now conceived, they say, would diminish access to the Galleria and Brand Boulevard, the city’s historic center of commerce.

The conflict is not just a question of whether Glendale will have one of Caruso’s slick retail centers. It may also signal a new willingness by indoor malls to fight their increasingly popular outdoor counterparts.

Caruso, who has practically perfected the art of wooing growth-averse homeowners and the politicians who represent them, is gearing up for an anticipated legal showdown.

“The Galleria is a big company with a lot of capital,” he said. “But, by the same token, we have the financial means to take on the fight.”

Councilman Dave Weaver said he also expects that the mall’s owners will sue the city to stop or delay Caruso’s project. Attorneys representing the Galleria have requested an array of public records dealing with the mall and the Town Center.

“They’ve brought their legal counsel into city meetings and stated Mr. Caruso must change his project,” Weaver said. “I resent that. They are not in a position to dictate change.”

The Town Center -- which would be bordered by the Galleria to the west and north, Colorado Street to the south and Brand to the east -- “completes our downtown development, and we believe it will bring regional visitors back to Glendale,” said Jeanne Armstrong, director of development services for the city. “We know we lose retail sales to other areas.”

Homeowner and business groups, including the 1,100-member Glendale Chamber of Commerce, are lining up to support Caruso.

Although the 200-member Downtown Glendale Merchants Assn., which includes Brand Boulevard businesses, has not taken a position on the project, the group’s leader said he believes that a majority of the group’s active members want the Town Center built.

“I want to see growth. I want to see something improving the energy of downtown,” said Harry Hall, the association’s president and owner of Milano’s Cucina Italiana.

“Glendale needs a focal point that will put it on the map, and the Town Center is a wonderful idea for having in the center of our town, a major place where people can go and meet,” added Carole Sussman, the immediate past president of the Glendale Homeowners Coordinating Council, a consortium of 22 homeowners groups.

Galleria owners said they also want the Town Center to be built, but contend that the current proposal “falls short of creating an open, well-connected, pedestrian-friendly environment,” according to Carol Jacobs, group vice president of management for General Growth Properties.The company, for example, wants Harvard Street, which would bisect the Town Center, to remain open.

“By closing Harvard, the Town Center really eliminates an essential connection between the Town Center, the Galleria and Brand Boulevard,” Jacobs said.

Caruso proposes using the east and west ends of that stretch of Harvard for access to Town Center parking, with a series of shops and a restaurant sandwiched in between. In a nod to the Galleria, he has offered to create a “visual corridor” that would run parallel to Harvard from Brand to the Galleria entrance on Central Avenue.

Locals see it as ironic that the Galleria, which one observer described as a “fortress,” is making access an issue.

Acknowledging that the Galleria could be more open, Jacobs said plans are underway to add stores and restaurants that would “spill out” onto Central.

Caruso’s proposal includes a two-acre park, 100 condominiums, 238 rental units and five restaurants on 15.5 acres. The plan calls for 50 retail stores, which would focus on women’s fashions, housewares and furniture.

Visitors, whom Caruso hopes to draw from Los Feliz and Silver Lake to the southwest and La Canada Flintridge and Pasadena to the northeast, would park in the center’s 2,700 spaces.

“There are more than enough customers to support us, the Galleria and Brand Boulevard,” Caruso said.

However, his plan to build a 67,000-square-foot cinema has generated opposition from Bill Holderness, owner of Brand Development Co.

Holderness, who helped develop and is part owner of the Exchange, a retail/office complex on Maryland Avenue northeast of the proposed Town Center, said he is concerned that Caruso’s cinema would create a glut of screens in Glendale. The Exchange has a 10-screen Mann Theatre.

“The issue is: What’s the impact of this project going to be on the rest of the city?” said Holderness, who accused the city of ignoring its strategic plan.

Armstrong said a consultant hired by the city recently concluded that the area could support additional stadium-style movie theaters.

She added that the city has offered to help renovate the Exchange multiplex to offer more such seating.

And in response to merchants’ requests to revitalize Brand before opening the Town Center, Armstrong said Glendale plans to repave the street, upgrade the lighting and install new sidewalks and bus shelters.

Completion of the Town Center’s draft environmental impact report is anticipated by fall. The City Council is expected to consider the report for approval by year’s end.

Caruso hopes to break ground on the Town Center in the first quarter of next year, with the completion scheduled for January 2006.