NBC Wants to Move Into Proposed Burbank High-Rise

NBC plans to create a new West Coast headquarters by consolidating many of its operations in a high-rise complex proposed for the Burbank Media District.

The network announced Tuesday it has agreed to occupy at least one-eighth of an 800,000 square-foot, $200-million complex of offices, shops and restaurants to be called NBC Plaza. The site is a 4.2-acre triangular parcel bounded by Olive Avenue, California Street and the Ventura Freeway just west of NBC’s present home, network officials said.

NBC said it will form a joint venture with the developer, Cushman Investment and Development Corp., which has built or is building several million square feet of office space in Burbank, Pasadena and Long Beach.

Cushman originally proposed the Media District complex in August, 1987. But concerns of city officials and neighborhood groups over rapid construction in the area delayed the project until a specific plan to control district growth could be written. The plan--and the project--are pending before the Planning Board and then would have to be approved by the Burbank City Council.

Cushman had proposed building two office towers, one 23 stories and one 16 stories. John E. O’Neill, NBC’s vice president for real estate, said the joint venture will propose two towers no taller than that, but final plans have not been completed. Between 1 1/2 and 2 acres will be a landscaped open plaza, he said.

Cushman owns or holds options on the proposed site, which is occupied by two motels and smaller buildings along Olive Avenue. The site is buffered from residential areas by other commercial areas.

Larry Kosmont, a consultant to the joint venture, said it would take about 60 days to complete designing the project and have it reviewed by city officials and neighborhood organizations.

“One thing that Cushman and NBC are in complete agreement on is . . . the sensitivity of the community with regard to height, traffic, parking and so on,” O’Neill said. “This will be neighborhood-friendly. It is not our intent to in any way alienate the community.”

NBC officials said employees who occupy leased office space in North Hollywood and elsewhere in Burbank would move to the new headquarters upon completion. If approved on schedule, company officials said, construction could begin in late 1990 and end about two years later.

The network operates nine production studios and a number of administrative and other buildings on the adjacent 48-acre site where it relocated from Hollywood in 1952. Those buildings would continue to be used. NBC has 1,600 full-time employees in Burbank.

Newly elected Burbank City Councilman Tom Flavin, who as a Planning Board member has pushed for development of the Media District specific plan, said he had not seen details of the proposal.

“I still think the Media District plan needs some work,” he said. “I would like to have all of those matters resolved before we take any major action on development.”

Flavin said the Media District specific plan as written would allow buildings as tall as 22 stories in the south part of the district and 25 stories on studio property. He said he would prefer a 15-story height limit.

Burbank City Manager Bud Ovrom said he was “extremely pleased” with NBC’s commitment to a continued presence in the city.

“As to the specifics of the buildings,” he said, “we’ll have to work with them closely on the details” to respond to neighborhood concerns.

More than 2 million square feet of office space, including the soon-to-be completed 32-story Geiger Building, have been built during the past five years in areas next to the proposed project.