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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Real Estate—Burbank Still Looking for Police Station Development

One more time. Burbank city officials are hoping that four times is the charm in their continuing effort to redevelop the site of the old police headquarters. As of the latest deadline for bids, May 18, nine companies submitted proposals for the 3.2-acre site bordered by Olive Avenue, San Fernando Boulevard, Angeleno Avenue and Third Street. The slate includes: CIM Group, Opus West Corp., Trammell Crow Co. and Urban Residential Partners, all in L.A.; Avalon Bay in Newport Beach; Chandler Partners in Burbank; Lambert Gangi Development, an L.A.- and Glendale-based partnership; Olson Development in Seal Beach; and Southland Cos., Pasadena. All the proposals, which are currently under review, involve a combination of residential, retail and office use. “It’s a pretty cookie-cutter type of approach,” said Bud Ovrom, Burbank city manager. Then, too, the whole history of the site has left little room for innovation. A whole range of options had already been eliminated by the time the latest request for proposals was released. Several years ago when Burbank first began its efforts to develop the parcel, officials hoped to build a commercial center with hotels, offices, movie theaters and retail shops. But one by one, many of the initial components were abandoned, victims of changing economic conditions. First, movie theater operators retrenched, then hotel operators pulled back and most recently, the office market has slowed. Each time the economy took another turn, so too did a developer, and Burbank officials went back to the drawing board to devise a new plan for the site. Officials nixed the most recent bidder, Burbank-based Cusumano Real Estate Group, when the company reduced its bid to $1 million as a result of a prevailing wage requirement that the company believes could dramatically increase development costs. Although Cusumano was invited to participate in the latest RFP, the company declined to do so. “When we made our final proposal, it was really our best possible proposal,” said Michael Cusumano, vice president of the firm. “We went back and reviewed it again and again and determined we couldn’t improve it.” Cusumano pointed out that the new entries in the bidding game were able to review his company’s proposal, making it less likely that resubmitting the original bid would succeed. Burbank officials said the current bidder list will be reviewed and whittled down to three or four proposals, which will be submitted to the city council. A decision is expected by early July. NoHo Sale Gopez Corp., an auto parts company, acquired a 25,600-square-foot building at 7600 Laurel Canyon Blvd. for $2.1 million. Gopez is moving its business from Northridge. Sue Horowitz and Randy Sheinbein of NAI Capital Commercial represented the buyer and seller, K & M; Properties. Glendale Sale A three-building portfolio in Glendale has been sold to Commonwealth Partners. The buildings had originally been part of a four-building complex known as Allstate Plaza, later acquired by Westbrook Partners, the sellers in the latest deal. Included in the transaction was a 130,000-square-foot building at 700 N. Central Ave.; a 10,000-square-foot building at 200 Burchett St. and a 270,000-square-foot office building at 801 N. Brand Blvd. One floor, or 22,000 square feet, in the 801 N. Brand building will become available for lease in July. Bill Boyd, a broker with Grubb & Ellis Co., is marketing the space. Warner Center Moves Two new tenants are moving into 6300 Canoga Ave. in Warner Center. Alchemy Communications, an Internet infrastructure and web-hosting company, has subleased 18,243 square feet from Superior Consultant Holdings Corp. and Infosys Inc., a provider of remote database applications, has subleased 17, 331 square feet of space from Blue Shield of California. Forrest Blake and Bryan Lewitt, brokers with Cresa Partners, represented Alchemy. Jim Lindvall, senior vice president with Grubb & Ellis Co., represented Superior in the sublease deal. Duane Cody of Cushman & Wakefield represented Blue Shield. Senior reporter Shelly Garcia can be reached at 818 676-1750, ext. 14 or by e-mail at [email protected].

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