Rich ‘Food for Thought’ : Options for Burbank Lot Outlined

Burbank city officials released details Tuesday of proposals from 10 companies interested in developing 41 acres downtown, and City Manager Bud Ovrom said he was heartened by the prospects.

“A lot of work has gone into some of them, and there is plenty of food for thought,” Ovrom said in a prepared statement to the Burbank City Council. “We are on the threshold of one of the biggest decisions this, or any other Burbank Council, will ever make.”

The companies submitted their plans after the city advertised nationwide for proposals after Walt Disney Co. abandoned plans earlier this year for a retail and entertainment complex, saying it was too expensive.

Ovrom said he was disappointed, however, that the options did not include plans for a regional shopping mall on the scale of the Glendale Galleria, even though major developers of malls in both Southern California and Canada were among the companies submitting proposals.

“We went out of our way to contact the major shopping center developers like Mel Simon, Ed DeBartolo and Homart,” Ovrom said in his statement. He added that the city also contacted major department stores such as Macy’s/Bullocks, Sears and J.C. Penney.

Ovrom said the existence of huge malls in Glendale and North Hollywood was a main reason developers were reluctant to build one of that size in Burbank. “Burbank could keep waiting for an anchored shopping mall, but that could be a very long wait, particularly when we are sitting on $50 million of vacant land,” he said.

Among the proposals submitted were:

A $100-million to $150-million “Burbank Promenade” retail and entertainment complex that would consist of stores such as the Price Club wholesale store, Toys R Us, Sports Mart and Home Depot. The project, proposed as a joint venture of the Price Club and Los Angeles-based Kornwasser and Friedman Shopping Center Properties, also would have smaller specialty and fashion retailers such as Nordstrom’s and Marshall’s. A movie-theater complex, an upscale supermarket, two restaurants and a 150-room Marriot Courtyard Hotel are other features of the plan.

The “Burbank Commerce Center” consisting of a 1.2 million-square-foot commercial office park, four restaurants and a 247,000 square-foot retail shopping center. The project was proposed by PS Development Co., a subsidiary of Public Storage Inc. of Glendale.

The “City Circle” complex of 1 million square feet of office space, five restaurants, a 250-room Embassy Suites Hotel and a retail shopping center, to be built by the general partnership of Watt Commercial Development of Santa Monica and Cusumano Development Co. of Burbank.

The “Burbank Pavilion at Star City” by the Canada-based Triple Five Development Enterprises, the builders of the West Edmonton Mall, reportedly the world’s largest shopping center. The “Pavilion” would have up to 3 million square feet of office space, three hotels with a total of 1,000 rooms, theaters, a performing arts center, up to 450,000 square feet of retail space and the potential of up to 350,000 square feet of department stores.

The “Cinema City” project by the Los Angeles-based Standard Management Co., which would be a combination of hotels, shops, restaurants, rental apartments, senior citizen housing and commercial office space.

The “Burbank Redevelopment Project” by the Alexander Haagen Co., one of the largest developers of retail shopping malls in Southern California. The project would contain retail and office space, three restaurants, a theater and a 150-room hotel.

City officials were studying other proposals for smaller projects.

T&S; Development Co. offered to build a 407,050 square-foot retail center with tenants such as Circuit City, Miller’s Outpost clothing and Sports Mart.

A partnership of Tokyo-based Kumagai Gumi Land California, Burbank-based Christiansen-Geiger, and Fullerton-based Dicker Wormington Properties offered to build a combined office, retail and entertainment area, along with 500 hotel rooms.

A hotel, retail community shopping center and an office complex were proposed by the Overton, Moore & Associates firm of Los Angeles, in partnership with Torrance-based La Caze Development. Ovrom said that proposal was not detailed enough, and would probably be disqualified.

The Schurgin Development Co. of Los Angeles offered to build a retail center along with three restaurants, food courts and a two-story theater.

All of the applicants were required to submit $10,000 with their proposals.

Ovrom said he would try to schedule meetings between the council and each of the individual developers.

The City Council is expected to narrow the list by about half by late next month, and those developers would be required to submit more detailed plans of their offers by the end of November. The council is expected to make a decision in January.