Developer Plans to Gut GM Training Site, Erect Condos

An aging General Motors training facility in Burbank may be the future site of more than 100 condos, a plan that’s raised the ire of some residents who say it would damage the neighborhood’s equestrian character. Although many developers scrapped their plans for condos during the recession, Santa Monica-based New Urban West Inc. is forging ahead with its redevelopment plans. The developer hopes to draw from Burbank’s significant employee base, including adjacent Hollywood studios. New Urban’s goal is to open the condo project in 2014 when the housing market, hopefully, has turned a corner. “We think we can create a lot of value there,” said Tom Zanic, senior vice president of New Urban West. If selling today, the condos would range from the high $300,000s to high $500,000s, he said, noting he’s also to open to apartments, if the market is too weak. The Walt Disney Co., Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center and Warner Bros. are located just down the road from the proposed development, giving New Urban West a large potential market. Last month, the Burbank City Council voted to begin an environmental review on the project, which calls for 120 condo units spread out over five acres. Zanic said the development — located in Burbank’s Rancho neighborhood — would inject much-needed housing into the city. According to a 2008 city housing report, Burbank had more than two jobs for every housing unit, a ratio considered low on housing. While Burbank needs more housing, the city must balance that need with the additional traffic and increased calls for services and infrastructure stemming from any new communities, said Michael Forbes, the city’s assistant community development director. “We are still in the early stages” with a final council hearing not expected until May, he said. GM, which occupied the building for more than 50 years, moved out a year and a half ago, consolidating its advanced fuel training and maintenance into its Torrance facility to increase efficiency, GM spokesman Shad Balch said. Raytheon, which uses the Burbank center to train GM technicians, will move out of the building in mid-December, Balch said. Raytheon will move its operation to Glendale, where it will continue to provide training services for GM, he said. Plans for multiple residential units have angered some in the community, who fear the increased density will harm the Rancho neighborhood’s equestrian charm, where horses and their owners meander along paths, including one that leads into Griffith Park. On Nov. 30, the city held a community meeting with Rancho residents to discuss the future of development in the neighborhood, including the GM training site, where New Urban West must receive a zoning change to build condos. More than 150 residents packed a room at the Buena Vista branch of the Burbank Public Library in near total opposition to the development. Many expressed concern the condos were priced too high and would end up becoming apartments, attracting residents who didn’t have a true commitment to the Rancho neighborhood and its equestrian lifestyle. That lifestyle isn’t as prevalent as it once was, said Rancho resident Kandace Soderstrom. “It will eat away at the neighborhood,” she said. Alisa Cunningham, a director at the Burbank Association of Realtors who lives outside the area but has many clients in the neighborhood, said the increased density would flood the area with more traffic and make the Rancho more dangerous for horse owners. “If you make it more difficult for a horse friendly community (to exist), you chip away at that value over time,” she said. Neighbors said approval of the project could set a precedent for other commercial buildings nearby. But Forbes and Zanic said a residential project would add fewer cars than other uses, because traffic patterns would be more spread out throughout the day than if employees were working at an office building. Zanic, who was not at the late November town hall meeting, said he’s had about 60 meetings with residents and is committed to alleviating their concerns. He said he’s even planning to market the equestrian charm and work with nearby stables to offer discounted rates to future residents.