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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Galleria, Empire Center Introduce New Era in Malls

Galleria, Empire Center Introduce New Era in Malls By CARLOS MARTINEZ Staff Reporter Developers of the San Fernando Valley’s two biggest retail projects of 2001, the rebuilt Sherman Oaks Galleria and the new Burbank Empire Center, both want to prove that a mix of offices, retailers and restaurants is the newest key to success in the mall business. Mark McGauhey, a retail specialist with CB Richard Ellis, said the right office-retail combination could turn the two developments into some of the most successful malls in L.A. County. The projects are part of a trend toward mixing business tenants with popular retailers, said Andrew Cohen, managing principal of the architectural firm Gensler & Associates, which designed the new Galleria. When Douglas Emmett & Co. acquired the Sherman Oaks Galleria for about $50 million and announced plans to remake the once popular hangout into an office and entertainment complex, it was hailed by many as a way to bring businesses and shoppers to the area around Sepulveda and Ventura boulevards. The Galleria had been popular with teenagers who used it as a gathering place and with filmmakers who made it the backdrop for a number of movies over the years, but tenants started leaving in droves in the early 1990s and it eventually closed in 1999. Unlike Burbank’s new 620,000-square-foot Empire Center mall, built on the site of the former Lockheed Aircraft plant, the new Galleria is more of a makeover than a full-fledged construction project. When the Galleria reopened last fall, it was no longer the mall of old, but a state-of-the-art office and commercial complex that locals say has been a long time in coming. Altogether, the Galleria’s hefty upgrade will cost around $100 million, according to Douglas Emmett. The project includes 700,000 square feet of office space and 300,000 square feet of shops, restaurants and movie theaters, all in an open-air complex, said Allen Young, a broker with CB Richard Ellis who is marketing the project for Douglas Emmett. Cohen said, “We basically took this vanilla white box and turned it inside out and developed courtyards, landscaping and office space with lots of natural lighting,” Cohen said. By designing a facility primarily with office space in mind, the new Galleria no longer has to compete with larger, more modern shopping malls, said Douglas Emmett CEO Dan Emmett. “It didn’t work as a regional mall anymore,” Emmett said. “It was just too small.” But by acquiring the mall and two nearby office buildings, Douglas Emmett was able to do something else: double existing office space in the Sepulveda/Ventura area to about 1.1 million square feet. Across town, Zelman Development Co. has built the Burbank Empire Center on the 103-acre former Lockheed Aircraft plant on Victory Boulevard near Buena Vista Street and Empire Avenue. Zelman President Ben Reiling said the company has spent more than $160 million to develop the mall and adjoining office space. “We feel that this project has something for everyone,” Reiling said. When completed, it will have 600,000 square feet of retail space, 600,000 square feet of office space and two hotels with a total of 350 rooms. The city of Burbank had been looking for a way to develop the place where Lockheed first built the World War II-era P-38 fighter plane but had abandoned in 1991 amid the deterioration of the aerospace industry. With the arrival of tenants like Hometown Buffet, TGI Fridays, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts and Costco, Reiling said the mall will live up to the city’s expectations. Burbank Community Development Director Sue Georgino said the center has been attracting a variety of customers. “You have young families that want to go to Target and make low-end purchases, but you also have families that come to the center for high-end purchases at Best Buy and other places,” she said. Like the Empire Center, the Sherman Oaks Galleria figures to meet local expectations as an office-retail-entertainment complex. The Galleria’s biggest tenant is Warner Brothers Animation with 150,000 square feet. Other top tenants include Pacific Theaters, with a 4,000-seat, 18-screen multiplex, and Tower Records, with a 50,000-square-foot mega-store full of CDs, videos and books. The new atmosphere will attract new customers, said Young. “You’re going to see a lot of families and a lot of business people,” he said. The mall project is in keeping with similar recent makeovers at other Valley malls, including Fallbrook, Topanga Plaza and Promenade malls. The Promenade, for instance, has undergone a $35 million upgrade that added new restaurants and shops to its lower level. Although the Galleria may long be remembered as the inspiration for Frank Zappa’s “Valley Girl” and the scene of “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” others say the old mall long ago outlived its usefulness. “It was too small and it couldn’t really compete with the other malls in the area,” said Richard Close, president of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association.

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