On weekends and nights, the City of Glendale used to suffer from what Philip Lanzafame has described as a “leakage” of residents. In other words, when residents were in search of entertainment, they often left the city’s confines to partake in nightlife elsewhere, according to Lanzafame, Glendale’s Director of Development Services. Now that The Americana at Brand has opened, however, Lanzafame is hopeful that residents will find that they have enough entertainment in Glendale to rule out skipping town at night. “We try to create an experience that people would want to experience in Glendale,” Lanzafame said. An estimated 2.5 million people live in the 10-mile radius that surrounds the city, according to Economic Development Manager Ken Hitts. Last year, Glendale generated nearly $28 million in revenue from sales taxes, and now that The Americana is open, the city is expected to generate at least another $1.8 million in sales taxes, Hitts said. While neither Hitts nor Lanzafame would say that they consider nearby communities such as Old Pasadena or Burbank to be Glendale’s rivals, they admitted that they hope that Glendale is now poised to become a major regional attraction. <!– Embassy: 12 stories, 272 suites. –> Embassy: 12 stories, 272 suites. “Sure, one of our objectives was to attract people who will discover the East Valley and come back, much like people here discover things on the West Side and come back,” Lanzafame said. The goal, he added, is definitely “not to steal people from somewhere else but to give them another destination to go to. (Glendale) is different from everywhere else.” Jennifer Gordon, vice president of events and public relations for Caruso Affiliated, which developed The Americana, has no doubt that its launch will make Glendale a retail destination. “The kind of retail that we’ve brought in, they’re really unique to the marketplace,” Gordon said. “They’re not found anywhere in the San Fernando Valley Kate Spade, Tiffany, Calvin Klein, H & M.; The restaurants are very unique also Katsuya, Frida’s. I think what we’ve done in Glendale is really going to put Glendale on the map as a destination, period, not just for retail but for residential, dining options, entertainment.” Gordon believes that, with The Americana, Glendale will draw residents of the four major counties in Southern California. But she also believes that Glendale can become a global attraction. “For a lot of international visitors coming to Los Angeles or California, I think Glendale is something they would like to see, just like The Grove has become a destination for tourists and guests to visit,” she said. Gordon doubts that The Americana and The Grove will compete with each other, even for those who live in, say, the Los Feliz/ Silverlake area and could easily make a trip to either. “What we’ve done with The Americana is enhanced what we have at The Grove,” she said. “We’ve made the fountain bigger, the park larger.” And, because both complexes have distinct retail offerings, Gordon believes that The Grove and The Americana will serve as complements to each other. “I think visitors who have been at the Grove will now be interested in seeing what The Americana is all about,” she said. “We never foresaw any competition between the two because they both kind of offer something different.” The Americana isn’t the only shopping center that makes Glendale a retail draw. Thanks to being home to one of the largest area malls the Glendale Galleria,the city has long attracted visitors from elsewhere. According to Hitts, the Galleria receives 26 million visitors a year. With the August opening of the Embassy Suites Hotel on Central Avenue and a few others in the planning stages, there will be no shortage of places for visitors to the city to lodge. Visible from the 134 freeway and by virtue of the fact that it is 12 stories tall, the new Embassy Suites Hotel has more than 10,000 square feet of ballroom space and meeting rooms that can accommodate up to 600 people. Its 272 two-room suites are equipped with work desks, voice mail, microwaves, refrigerators, coffeemakers and other amenities, according to the hotel’s general manager, Grace Tanji. Ground was broken on the hotel site in 2005, and now that it is just months away from opening, businesses are already calling to arrange bookings, Tanji said. The hotel appears to be filling a void in the area, as the nearest Embassy Suites is more than a dozen miles away in Arcadia. Tanji, for one, believes the Glendale location has a panache that makes it distinct from its sister sites. “Our hotel is custom built,” Tanji said. “If you look at it, it doesn’t look like an Embassy Suites. It has a beautiful glass interior, a mirrored fa & #231;ade. It’s just so different from most hotels. The look and feel it’s elegant.” While a handful of staffers have been hired, Tanji is in the midst of hiring the remaining bulk of staffers. In the next month, the hotel will have a job fair, she said. Glendale as a Destination 2.5 million people live within a 10-mile radius. $28 million is generated annually in taxes from retail sales. The Americana should generate an additional $1.8 million in sales taxes. The Glendale Galleria receives 26 million visitors each year. A new Embassy Suites Hotel will open in August. Two more hotels are in the planning stages and a third is under discussion. The Alex Theatre, built in 1926, welcomes more than 100,000 people per year. The auto sector generates 1,600 high-tech jobs and $5 billion a year for Glendale. Only one bank is still headquartered in the City — Americas United Bank. It is also the first financial institution to bill itself as a “Hispanic bank.” Sources: City of Glendale, The Embassy Suites, The Alex Theatre, Brand Blvd. of Cars.
