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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Burbank Collection Adds Legendary Restaurant to Menu

The legendary Barney’s Beanery in West Hollywood, former stomping grounds for the likes of ’60s music icons Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison, is expanding to Burbank this summer. The restaurant chain signed a 10-year, $3 million lease to inhabit 6,000 square feet of retail space at Champion Real Estate Group’s Burbank Collection. That marks the first time the chain will have a presence in the San Fernando Valley. “We’re excited with what is happening in Burbank,” Barney’s Beanery co-owner David Houston said of the expansion. “We thought Barney’s would be a good fit there. We love the city. We hope we can sell a lot of beer and chili.” Situated in the block bounded by Magnolia and San Fernando boulevards, Orange Grove Avenue and First Street in downtown Burbank, the $90 million Burbank Collection will include 118 condominiums and luxury lofts and 40,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space. Now under construction, the complex is scheduled to open in June. Barney’s will start serving by August, according to Houston. “We’ll certainly be there for the kickoff of the next football season,” he said. In addition to its West Hollywood headquarters, Barney’s has sites in Pasadena and Santa Monica. Houston was drawn to the Burbank Collection, in part because of the large outdoor patio space offered to the restaurant. He imagines it will make for a great evening hangout spot and also thinks the high pedestrian traffic in the area will be good for business. “I would imagine a lot of people from the Valley have a familiarity with the brand,” he said. Houston envisions people thinking, “Oh, Barney’s. I went there in Hollywood two-and-half years ago. I’ll check it out.” Christine Deschaine of commercial real estate group Lee & Associates negotiated the lease. “I represent Robert Champion, who is the developer of the Burbank Collection. My job is to go out and obtain the right tenant mix for the project,” she explained. “Barney’s Beanery is the type of restaurant we were looking for in the Burbank Collection. It’s going to be our first full-service restaurant.” Retail Mix Other retail tenants slated to join the collection include Pinkberry, Johnny Rockets and Caf & #233; Venizie. Most of the space on the ground floor has been leased, according to Deschaine. The City of Burbank played a helpful role in expanding Barney’s to the Burbank Collection, Deschaine said. “We worked with the city on signage and outdoor patio dining,” she said. “When you’re involved in restaurant uses, the city plays a bigger role in getting involved.” Deschaine described the city as hands-on. “They’re very good about having meetings and assisting tenants in getting everything they need,” she said. “Not all cities are like that.” Specifically, Deschaine singled out Burbank Downtown Manager Gail Stewart and Deputy City Planner Joy Forbes for their help. Stewart said that city views Barney’s as a fresh and hip addition. “We’re excited about them coming,” she said. Accordingly, “We all just try to work together to get the best result.” Moreover, Forbes said that her department was helpful in the expansion because it consistently aims to process applications as quickly as possible. “We don’t purposely hold up things , and I think the other thing we do, we make applicants aware of issues at the early stages,” she said. “If anyone does have a problem with the business, they’ll get notified right away. It doesn’t come at the 11th hour. They hear about it at the beginning.”

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