Van Nuys Ca Development And Redevelopment

Commuters riding the Metrolink train to downtown will have to take a shuttle bus to the Van Nuys train stop for at least six months after the service begins Oct. 26 due to lack of parking space there, Los Angeles city transportation officials said Tuesday. The shuttle bus from a lot half a mile away will operate for up to a year because the city has yet to purchase land for a parking lot next to the stop, they said.

Former Los Angeles City Councilman Marvin Braude helped break ground Monday morning for a new municipal building in Van Nuys that will bear his name. The Marvin Braude San Fernando Valley Constituent Service Center, to be located at Van Nuys Boulevard and Sylvan Street, will house the Valley office of the mayor, offices of the 11th District council member, city attorney and city clerk, and offices for building and safety, transportation and planning.

Environmental reports required to be submitted to developers of the old General Motors plant on Van Nuys Boulevard should be finished "in the next couple of weeks," according to a spokeswoman for GM. The cleanup process, which includes excavating soil, removing asbestos and extracting concrete embedded underground, has been ongoing since GM closed the plant in 1992 and is nearly complete, sources familiar with the project said.

In a new bid to rescue poor communities, Mayor Richard Riordan is expected to announce today plans to spend $12 million to revitalize distressed neighborhoods in the San Fernando Valley and the Harbor area. Five months after a divided community scrapped plans for the city's largest redevelopment project in the northeast Valley, Riordan will designate sections of Pacoima and Lake View Terrace as one of three areas in the Valley to be added to the city's Targeted Neighborhood Initiative program.

Despite a 50% increase in costs, the city's top two administrators are prepared to recommend that Los Angeles go ahead with construction of a civic center building in Van Nuys to provide centralized services for the San Fernando Valley, officials said Monday. A report by Chief Legislative Analyst Ron Deaton and acting City Administrative Officer Paul Cauley was being finalized Monday for release as early as today so it can be acted on next month by the City Council, officials said.

Despite a 50% jump in costs, the city's top two administrators are prepared to recommend that Los Angeles go ahead with construction of a new civic center building in Van Nuys to provide centralized services for the San Fernando Valley, officials said Monday. A report by Chief Legislative Analyst Ron Deaton and Acting City Administrative Officer Paul Cauley was being finalized Monday for release as early as today so it can be acted on next month by the City Council, officials said.

Robina Suwol and the roughly 50 other members of the Tobias Avenue Homeowners Assn. have charged themselves with a mission--improve the quality of life in Van Nuys. The group hopes to get some direction on how to best do that when representatives of Mayor Richard Riordan, Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski and the city Department of Building and Safety attend the group's monthly meeting on Tuesday.

Nine developers submitted bids to build the first major phase of the Van Nuys Civic Center renovation, according to City Councilman Marvin Braude, whose district includes the site. The deadline for bids on the project was March 3, but the list of nine was not finalized until this week. The winning firm will be selected by the end of April.

The Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to spend $500,000 to build a park-and-ride lot in Van Nuys to serve the overflow demand from a popular lot in Encino. The $500,000 will come from a $400,000 grant from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and $100,000 in city matching funds. It will pay for a 150-space parking lot, lighting, landscaping and an irrigation system at Balboa and Victory boulevards.

The Los Angeles Department of Airports is seeking public comment on the background report for the Van Nuys Airport Master Plan, officials said. The plan describes land use and conditions that affect airport operations and airport neighbors. It was developed by consultant Engineering Technology Inc. "It's basically a compilation of existing information and conditions at and around Van Nuys Airport," said Stacy Geere, the airport's spokeswoman.

In a new bid to rescue poor communities, Mayor Richard Riordan is set to announce today plans to spend $9 million to revitalize distressed neighborhoods and commercial strips in the San Fernando Valley.

Mayor Richard Riordan announced Monday that Trammell Crow Co. has completed purchase of a former defense industry plant in Van Nuys, with plans to develop it into a light-industry and high-tech manufacturing campus. The development of the 24-acre site at 16555 Saticoy St., formerly owned by the Marquardt Co., has been a high priority for Riordan. He designated it part of Genesis L.A., a program to find a use for a dozen large industrial properties scattered throughout the city.

Mayor Richard Riordan announced Monday that Trammell Crow Co. has completed the purchase of a former defense industry plant in Van Nuys, with plans to develop it into a light-industry and high-tech manufacturing campus. The development of the 24-acre site at 16555 Saticoy St., formerly owned by Marquardt Co., has been a high priority for Riordan. He designated it part of Genesis L.A., a program to find a use for a dozen large industrial properties scattered across the city.

A deal is near to develop a high-tech manufacturing campus on one of the last, large industrial properties in the San Fernando Valley, city officials said Tuesday. But the there's still one hitch confronting the project near Van Nuys Airport: A study must determine that the site, long used for aerospace manufacturing, is free of toxic contamination.

History came full circle Monday as residents, street workers and Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski celebrated the rebirth of a round, long-abandoned traffic median in Van Nuys. For decades, the crossing of Katherine Avenue and Archwood Street was nothing more than an unusually large intersection in the middle of a neighborhood of modest, 1920s-era homes.

The Los Angeles City Council on Friday approved a $34-million government center for the San Fernando Valley--a project that both secessionists and foes claimed as a symbol of their conflicting causes. More than a decade in the works, the Marvin Braude San Fernando Valley Constituent Service Center, named after the former councilman, will consolidate city offices now spread throughout the Valley into one three-story structure in Van Nuys.

A deal to sell the closed shuttered Van Nuys General Motors plant to a Southland developer is expected to be consummated this month, possibly as early as next week, sources familiar with the negotiations said Monday. Prospective buyers have proposed a mix of industrial and retail businesses that would probably generate at least 1,000 jobs at a site where 2,600 employees once worked, sources close to the discussions said.

Dramatically reversing a decade of designs for the San Fernando Valley's main street, Los Angeles city planners will now support a proposal to slash the budget to beautify Ventura Boulevard and abolish the unpopular "trip fee" on boulevard property owners. Under the proposal accepted by the planners--which must be approved by the city Planning Commission and the City Council--the budget for the Ventura Boulevard Specific Plan would be cut in half.

A new civic center for the San Fernando Valley moved a step closer to reality Wednesday after a panel recommended that the City Council should go ahead with the $34-million construction of a new office building in Van Nuys. The council's Information Technology and General Services Committee endorsed the Marvin Braude San Fernando Valley Constituent Service Center to be built by the Voit Cos. and leased back to the city for about $3.8 million annually.

Despite a 50% increase in costs, the city's top two administrators are prepared to recommend that Los Angeles go ahead with construction of a civic center building in Van Nuys to provide centralized services for the San Fernando Valley, officials said Monday. A report by Chief Legislative Analyst Ron Deaton and acting City Administrative Officer Paul Cauley was being finalized Monday for release as early as today so it can be acted on next month by the City Council, officials said.