We all know what ultimately drives developers – or at least what accounts for their willingness to endure all sorts of abuse heaped on them from critics: money. But they are a funny breed, because if a businessperson has enough savvy to succeed as a developer, almost certainly he or she has enough savvy to make money in far less public ways – that don’t involve being called greedy destroyers of the environment or inconsiderate wreckers of peaceful neighborhoods. Now, as a middle-of-the-road Democrat with environmental leanings, I’ll admit my prejudices. I am not a huge fan of those sprawling suburban housing tracts that gobble up virgin property, often in bucolic settings. But, hey, people have to live somewhere. And while I’m at it, I’ll admit suburban developers have learned a few things since Levittown – the country’s first planned suburb on Long Island, N.Y. – and some of those new neighborhoods don’t look half bad. But I’ll also admit I’m sort of a fan of that special breed of urban developer who has been flourishing in recent years. They are altering city skylines by taking abandoned, run-down, underutilized or simply aging properties and either rehabbing them or creating whole new uses. Of course, what I am talking about is that very quintessential L.A. developer, the kind who has continued to remake and revitalize the city one generation after another. It’s that kind of development that has turned Rick Caruso into a billionaire with his Grove and Americana at Brand outdoor malls. In fact, Caruso has been so wildly successful that Westfield Corp., the U.S. extension of a huge Australian mall developer, is imitating him with its $350 million Village at Topanga project near Warner Center. But it’s also the kind of development that can infuriate historic preservationists or residents nostalgic about a building – or fearful of the changes or traffic a new development will bring. Malibu developer Richard Weintraub, who has been particularly active in the Valley, knows all about this. Last month, after what our reporter Karen E. Klein called a “contentious five-hour” hearing, he won approval from the city’s area planning commission for his Sportsman’s Landing project. It would involve demolishing the Sportsman’s Lodge event center in Studio City and replacing it with a 97,800-square-foot development of shops, restaurants and an upscale gym. More mixed use. Weintraub has already renovated the hotel on the Sportsmen’s Lodge property and claims the whole development doesn’t really pencil out without replacing the event center. Read: He will make a better return on his investment with the mixed-use center than a less-utilized event center. Some residents are furious over the scope of the development and its potential to cause traffic congestion, while even the family that owns the hotel – which Weintraub operates on a lease – is threatening to sue following the commission’s vote. (They claim it will gobble up parking spaces the hotel needs.) But I think what really may be at play here is the role the events center has played in the Valley, hosting countless bar mitzvahs and wedding receptions for more than 50 years, as our reporter noted. Talk about nostalgia. An entire generation of Valley pioneers, who made their way from New York and settled in the Valley after the war, probably walked the quaint forested grounds of Sportsman’s Lodge and sat in the event center, marking a significant family milestone. But Weintraub has made a living here in the Valley taking on difficult urban infill and redevelopment projects, sometimes successfully and sometimes not so. He’s currently building a mixed-use complex on the site of Panavision’s former headquarters on De Soto Avenue in Warner Center. But his plans to redevelop the Victory Boulevard site in Woodland Hills where Catalina Yachts once were built devolved into infighting and litigation with the yacht company’s founder. I suppose his latest project at Sportsman’s Lodge could also devolve into litigation, either from residents or the hotel’s owners, who on the face of it would seem to be his business partners. If the project stumbles, the Valley gets to retain a piece of its past, but for how much longer? After all, this is the city that continually remakes itself, shakes off its past – both the good and not-so-good parts – and moves headlong into the future. And driving that future are developers like Richard Weintraub, whether you hate them or love them. Laurence Darmiento is editor of the Business Journal. He can be reached at [email protected].
