Glendale News-Press - March 28, 2006
by Fred Ortega

GLENDALE - The City Council, acting as the Glendale Redevelopment Agency, told staffers to move forward with negotiations that could bring a 350,000-square-foot commercial and residential development to California Avenue and Brand Boulevard.

The council voted 4 to 1 to investigate developer Dorn Platz's proposed deal, which would bring the Glendale Career College downtown to share the space with 24-Hour Fitness, several office and retail establishments, and 150 residential units above a three-level underground parking garage. The development would take up the entire block north of the Alex Theatre.

The plan would have the college on Grandview Avenue in the northwest part of the city and 24-Hour Fitness occupy the corner building owned by Dorn Platz while the first phase of the project is completed over the first three years. The two businesses would then move in while the remaining residential and retail spaces are built on the site of the corner building.

To ensure that Dorn Platz holds up its part of the deal, the city is requiring the company to deposit $2.5 million into an escrow account once an agreement is reached. It would forfeit the money if the college does not move into the completed first phase of the project within three years, Development Services Director Phil Lanzafame said.

The deal would also require Dorn Platz to purchase from the city the public Lot 3 to the rear of the property on Maryland Avenue, and to cover all costs -- including legal, if eminent domain is required -- of purchasing the remaining properties on the block. They include the Church of Scientology property, Brand Newsstand, Brand Bookshop and Charles Billiards, among others.

Dorn Platz would also have to replace the 66 public spaces the city would lose from Lot 3 in the new subterranean garage, though the company would be able to discount the cost of those public spaces from its purchase price for the lot, Lanzafame said.

Councilmen Bob Yousefian and Dave Weaver cautioned the developer that they would have to provide enough spaces in the garage to meet city code, which would require about 1,200 parking spots.

"I strongly recommend you start analyzing the parking requirements because you might end up pulling the plug early on this deal," Weaver said. "You are not going to get a parking variance from Yousefian or from me."

But Mayor Rafi Manoukian objected to the project, which would reach two stories along Brand but would rise up to six stories for the residential tower on Maryland Avenue.

"I can just imagine three years from now the legal entanglements we will get into over this $2.5-million deposit," Manoukian said. "I hope the agreement is iron-clad, because otherwise we will lose the money. There are also tremendous parking issues there, and if you think putting a college there with that many students will not have an effect, you are sadly mistaken."

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© 2006 Glendale News-Press