Mall Renovation Plan Discussed at Hearing

Worried about traffic, area residents gave their conditional support to plans for renovating the Sherman Oaks Galleria--now more than 60% vacant--at a Friday public hearing.

The only outright rejection to the project--which would add restaurants, movie theaters and a large amount of office space--was from Robinsons-May. For the desired renovation to occur, the department store would have to move out.

For nearly three hours, a city associate zoning administrator and a city Planning Commission hearing examiner heard testimony about several exceptions to requirements regulating shared office and public parking, traffic flow, signs and building height.

The hearing examiner will issue a report to the Planning Commission, which has tentatively planned to consider the proposed changes on Oct. 27. The zoning administrator will consider the public’s comments and make a decision on the proposal in about two weeks.

The Galleria’s owner, the Douglas Emmett Co., is proposing 18 theater screens with total of about 4,000 seats, 45,000 square feet of restaurants, between 250,000 and 390,000 square feet of retail space and between 489,200 and 630,000 square feet of offices.

Douglas Emmett is talking with Warner Brothers about filling much of the office space, said Cindy Starrett, a Douglas Emmett consultant.

While residents are pleased with most of the developer’s plans, many voiced concerns about traffic--especially cars that stray from the main thoroughfares of Ventura and Sepulveda boulevards onto neighborhood streets.

“Problems exist here now,” said Evan Levy, who lives in the neighborhood directly east of the mall. “This new project is only going to exacerbate those problems, and we need more specifics on how to deal with them.”

In total opposition to current proposals was Robinsons-May, which is currently involved in dueling lawsuits with the mall’s owner. Douglas Emmett’s suit could result in the department store’s eviction.

“The problem is that this plan assumes that Robinsons-May is gone,” said Charles Hokanson, an attorney representing the department store.

“Robinsons-May intends to stay in those buildings.”