Latecomer Vows to Save N. Hollywood Project

A veteran Los Angeles developer stepped forward Wednesday and pledged to city officials to bail out the troubled North Hollywood commercial development project.

Seeking the blessing of the Community Redevelopment Agency, Jerry Snyder said he can satisfy the demand for commercial and retail development around the new subway station and accommodate a new high school nearby as well.

“We will take it over and we will get it done,” Snyder, an experienced developer, told the CRA board. “I guarantee we will have an iron-clad, done-deal agreement by your next meeting.”

Snyder’s surprise entry into the crisis that has engulfed the $361-million project, designed to fully realize the potential of the new subway station which opened last year, took some officials by surprise.

The city had been working exclusively for 18 months with developer J. Allen Radford, who had announced a tentative deal with LCOR, another Los Angeles-based developer, to be his financial partner earlier this year.

Radford had been told to provide a final development deal by Wednesday or face loss of the project.

Instead, Radford on Wednesday announced he had dropped LCOR and was set to deal with Snyder.

Further muddling the picture were representatives of LCOR, who urged the board to open the project to bids from all developers, charging Radford and Snyder do not have the experience and financing to tackle such a complicated project.

The agency board Wednesday decided to step back for one week, giving Radford yet another chance to resuscitate the project while responding to demands some of the land be dedicated for use as a new high school.

“We are looking at a week to clear some dust,” said Board Chairwoman Peggy Moore.

The jarring eleventh-hour changes led board member Doug Ring to suggest the agency may have to open the project up for competitive bids from other developers if Radford and Snyder fail to finalize their project by Feb. 7.

“There will be more high drama,” Ring predicted.

Talks Include Building School

Snyder is also planning a $140-million redevelopment of Valley Plaza shopping mall. He promised the board to have a signed joint venture partnership agreement by next Monday that would make him the lead developer, relegating Radford to providing the land.

Snyder said he had talked with Los Angeles Board of Education member Caprice Young about incorporating a proposed high school into the commercial, residential and office development he wants to build next to the North Hollywood subway station.

Snyder said the project would probably remain about 2 million square feet, but he prefers to add apartments to the mix of shops, restaurants and offices Radford had proposed.

He also said a proposal for movie theaters and film sound stages, originally proposed by Radford, would not be part of the initial development.

Because Radford already has ownership or options on much of the property, Snyder said construction could begin in January 2002 if the board approves the project.

Skepticism abounded. Some board members contended that no more extensions should be granted to Radford.

Ring described Snyder as Radford’s “developer du jour.”

The Radford land is considered the key to wider revitalization in North Hollywood. Officials had long considered the adjacent subway station as the launching ramp for rebirth.

The nearby NoHo Arts District, a struggling collection of theaters, was also expected to benefit from the development.

Riordan Deputy: ‘We Can Make This Work’

The redevelopment issue was complicated recently when the Los Angeles school board announced it wanted to use a Caltrans parcel for a school. The parcel had been part of the Radford project.

Mayor Richard Riordan believes the North Hollywood commercial development is a high priority but that it should go forward as part of a larger plan that also considers the school district’s needs for a new campus in the area, said Joanne Halbert, an assistant deputy mayor.

Halbert said she will meet with school officials during the next week to try to find a way for the high school and the commercial development to both be built.

“We think we can make this work for all parties,” she told the board. “We can accommodate the high school but not at the detriment of the redevelopment project.”

Howard Samuels, an executive with LCOR, said he learned Tuesday afternoon that Radford was bowing out of their tentative partnership.

“I thought I had a deal with the existing developer,” he said.

Renee Weitzer, an aide to Los Angeles City Council President John Ferraro, urged the board not to put the commercial project out for new competitive bids, which could delay it by six months.

“If you go out for [bids] this project is dead,” Weitzer warned.