Residents concerned about traffic from Whole Foods, apartment project

Burbank residents on Monday shared parking and traffic concerns with developers of the luxury apartment complex and Whole Foods market proposed for Burbank’s media district.

The 241-unit project — slated for 3401 W. Olive Ave. and dubbed Talaria at Burbank — includes 751 parking spots, 460 of which would be reserved for tenants, with the remainder set aside for market customers and employees, developers said.

“I don’t need a traffic study to tell me this is [not enough] parking spaces,” said Rancho resident Jay Geisenheimer after a community meeting that attracted roughly 50 local residents.

The project does meet the city’s parking standards, the developers said.

Geisenheimer noted that she otherwise supported the project.

“They designed this beautifully; this is a very sophisticated property they are putting together,” she said.

Others worried that traffic caused by the development would spill over into neighboring residential streets and questioned developers on traffic mitigation measures.

A “rigorous” traffic study is in the works, said developer Michael Cusumano of the Cusumano Real Estate Group, but he also noted that the building’s location, which is intended to draw tenants from nearby film and television studios, will encourage tenants to bike or walk to work.

The market will likely be open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., with about 65 employees working at any given time, said Erica Hartig Dubreuil, regional vice president of Whole Foods.

The proposed apartment sizes range from 821 to 1,900 square feet, with the smallest units to lease for roughly $1,500 a month, Cusumano said.

“We think it’ll really, really be a boost to local housing market,” Cusumano said. “What we’re trying to design is an alternative to the single-family home.”

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Follow Alene Tchekmedyian on Google+ and on Twitter: @atchek.

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