If there’s any part of San Fernando that hasn’t been spruced up yet, it soon will be. Virtually very section of the city is part of a redevelopment area, and detailed plans for a wide variety of infrastructure, residential and commercial projects are detailed in a three-ound document called the Corridors Specific Plan. Its purpose, said Community Development Director Paul Deibel, “is to identify goals and objectives for future use and development of these corridors so as to promote their revitalization for the benefit of the community.” Adopted in 2005, the plan goes beyond just identifying goals and objectives, outlining specific strategies to attract desirable development and provide regulatory mechanisms to accommodate that development, Deibel added. One of the first building-oriented initiatives the city undertook was to re-purpose some of the surface parking lots in the downtown area. A request for proposals went out to the development community projects that would be multi-use, with retail on the ground floor and have housing above. Ultimately, the City entered into negotiations with Ganji Development who originally proposed market-rate residential over retail. They also began developing an environmental impact report that would cover all of the parcels the City hoped to ultimately develop. That EIR is in process. But with the residential real estate meltdown, Ganji has had to rethink its proposal. “Currently we have a conceptual plan that has recently gained favor with the planning department,” said Fred Ganji. “It’s a mission-style project, mixed-use with about 10,000-square-feet of commercial space on the first floor and then 100 units of affordable senior housing above.” The project recently gained traction when the City received a $3.6 million grant as part of Proposition 1C funds that will pay for a new parking structure that will service all of downtown and also get the underground utilities for the project installed. Other funding may come from a tax-exempt bond issue and tax credits, said Ganji, which may be tougher to get now than it would have been just a couple of months ago. “The City would be the issuer,” said Ganji, “but our bank would have to guarantee it and that would be an FHA-insured credit enhancement.” The EIR for the project is expected to be complete in about 45 days and should be put out for public comment by the first of the year. Another privately-developed housing project at 1075 North Maclay Avenue was also delayed somewhat. The plan called for 37 townhomes to be built all at once. But according to Max Convis, president of Maclay Partners is developer and builder of the townhome project, the complex is now being built in two phases. “Phase I is 23 units,” said Convis. “The bank wouldn’t even think of funding the other side until at least most of those are sold.” With the weak real estate market, he said they may end up not even going forward with sales of the townhomes at this time, letting them stand as leased units until the economy gets stronger. “We’re having a soft opening this Saturday and then a grand opening I think three weeks after that,” Convis said. “In the next month we’ll see if things are selling or if the financing is coming through.” The units, now priced from $340,000, all have two bedrooms with slight variations in square footage and layout. The project took about a year longer to get through the approval process than Convis expected. “The City’s actually pretty good,” he said, chalking up the delay to many public meetings to get input from residents and property owners. “We were taking out commercial buildings that hadn’t been in use for a long time and they redid the zoning down the street,” said Convis. An election in the midst of the process didn’t help speed things along. Also in process is the redevelopment of an old factory which was purchased by Bernards to consolidate the three locations the construction company now has in the area, including its headquarters. They are completely refurbishing the facility which will be the first LEED-certified building in the City. When Bernards moves, their three parcels at the entrance to downtown will then be available for redevelopment, a prospect that excites the City. Another major employer, Sigue Corporation, has temporarily relocated its headquarters to other facilities it operates in Sylmar following a fire that destroyed their building earlier in the year. According to Deibel, the company is still dealing with its insurance company and deciding how to move forward in rebuilding within the City. The Los Angeles Unified School District is building a $110 million high school on part of the 40-acre site that housed the long-running Swap Meet, while a major retail center has been proposed for the rest of the project by the development arm of Pacific Theatres. “The city has always had a concern about not having a severe economic impact on all of the small entrepreneurs and family-owned businesses and the people that work at the swap meet,” said Deibel. The developer, he added, will find a place to relocate the swap meet to when redevelopment of the site ultimately takes place. Some projects have been delayed because of the state’s fiscal woes said Deibel. “Improvements along Truman Street that were going to start in this fiscal year have been extended out to 2010.” City Administrator Pulido is particularly proud of the City’s new $14.5 million aquatic center that opened this summer. What he hopes business owners understand is that the water park was designed to benefit them as well as residents. “It was designed to be a destination,” said Pulido, “and to draw more people to the area who will then spend money in the City.”
