Americana asks for 18 liquor slips

Josh Kleinbaum

Developer Rick Caruso is asking for 18 alcohol permits for the

Americana at Brand, a $264.2-million project in downtown Glendale,

but insists that the project will be more suitable for families than

partyers.

None of the liquor licenses will be used for stand-alone bars, and

the project might not use all 18, Caruso said.

“We’ve requested 10 licenses for on-site restaurants,” Caruso

said. “There is a high likelihood we will not use all 10.”

The restaurants might include Cheesecake Factory, Fox Sports

Grill, P.F. Chang’s, Marmalade Cafe and Lucky Strike Lanes. Caruso

requested five licenses for stores on the site, such as Rite Aid and

Bristol Farms. Three restaurants are expected to have a second

license to deliver liquor to the project’s residential units.

But some residents believe the city should not allow liquor sales

at the project, especially since it’s centered by a 1.85-acre public park.

“You try going into Verdugo or Brand park with a beer in your

hand, and you’ll find your butt down in the clink,” said Margaret

Hammond, a Glendale resident and Americana opponent. “Up at the

Doctors’ House, if they’re having a reception, even the people at our

community group, we’re told we can’t have liquor or wine. Yet our

central downtown park that we have been promised is going to be

surrounded by people serving liquor.”

Caruso does not expect drunken carousing to spill into the park.

Only two of the Americana’s restaurants, Fox Sports Grill and Lucky

Strike Lanes, will have prominent bars, and both will serve food as

well.

Caruso is not requesting the licenses from the city. He is

requesting 18 conditional-use permits to allow alcohol sales or

consumption on commercial property. Each tenant must obtain an

alcohol license from the state.

Stores such as Bristol Farms and Harry and David will include wine

in gift baskets. The project’s still-undetermined anchor tenant might

use a liquor license, as Nordstrom does at The Grove, another Caruso

development.

Remaining licenses will be used to achieve Caruso’s vision of a

full-service residential environment for the 338 housing units,

including room service from the project’s restaurants. Restaurants

will need a second liquor license to deliver beer or wine with dinner

to people living in the project.

City officials have not objected to issuing the permits, although

some have questioned the method used to issue them. Restaurants

outside of the Americana must apply to the city’s zoning

administrator and the City Council to receive the permits, but the

Americana zoning rules, which will be voted on by the City Council at

6 tonight, require approval from the director of administrative

services and the planning director.

Some councilmen said they would prefer sticking with the normal

process.

“We need to know what kinds of restaurants are going in,” Mayor

Bob Yousefian said. “I’m trying to make this as close to the normal

procedure as possible, so people don’t criticize it and say we go

through hoops to get 18 permits for Caruso, but put some other

restaurant through hell for one alcohol license permit.”

Assistant City Atty. Gillian van Muyden said the zoning rules

could be altered tonight before the council’s vote.