Laura Sturza
With the city poised to deny the Platt Companies' proposal for a
4-acre development near NBC, the builder is working with the city on
plan revisions.
"Staff was getting ready to recommend against the project, and the
applicant was concerned about going forward with a negative
recommendation," City Planner Art Bashmakian said.
The Planning Board was scheduled to review the project at an Aug.
19 meeting, but the hearing was postponed until Sept. 9. The
development would occupy a triangle-shaped lot near the Ventura (134)
Freeway with boundaries along Alameda Street, Lima Street and Olive
Avenue.
The city and neighboring businesses were concerned that initial
plans for the Burbank Media Center used more than its share of
height, size and traffic allowances granted in the Burbank Media
District Specific Plan. The plan was for a 925,000-square-foot
project with two 18-story buildings. Letters were submitted to the
city by developer M. David Paul and Associates, Hope Enterprises Inc.
and NBC.
"We feel that the density request is not proportional to the site
... ," M. David Paul wrote in his letter to city planners. "A primary
goal within the [Media District Specific Plan] is to protect the
quality of life in single-family residential neighborhoods
surrounding the district through density limits [and] height
restrictions."
The Platt Companies' discussions with the city "have resulted in
what is ultimately a better project," president Rick Platt said
through project spokesman Mark Wittenberg, adding that he is eager to
bring the revisions before the Planning Board.
In May, the company reduced its proposal from a
925,000-square-foot project to 800,000, removed plans for a hotel,
and lowered the tallest buildings from 18 to 15 stories. Since
Friday, it changed from requesting mixed office space to all-media
office space, Principal Planner Joy Forbes said.
"It is going to change the amount of traffic during peak hours,
because media offices mean less peak-hour traffic [than general
office use]," Forbes said.
The $150-million center includes offices, apartments, a church,
retail businesses, a health club and a child-care facility.
The center would join two other projects within a three-block
radius -- the Pinnacle Project, an office and retail complex, and the
Bob Hope Center, which will include a comedy museum and theater.
