BURBANK DEVELOPER TO BUILD OFFICES ON '$100' VACANT LOT.

Byline: Susan Abram Staff Writer

BURBANK - A city-owned vacant lot that would be valued at $1.1 million during a hot real estate market has been sold for $100 to a Burbank developer who plans to build offices and a restaurant.

The City Council late Tuesday voted 4-0, with Marsha Ramos absent, to sell the 37,000-square-foot parcel at Olive Avenue and Third Street to Cusumano Real Estate Group. It is the final piece of a three-acre, mixed- use development.

Cusumano was the only developer, officials said, willing to build office space in an area where the vacancy rate is hovering around 20 percent.

``There's very little market for offices right now,'' said Community Development Director Sue Georgino. ``For a typical office developer, it would be tough leasing it. But the Cusumanos have a strong presence in Burbank and they don't scare too easily.''

As part of the deal, Cusumano will have to adhere to certain conditions, Georgino said.

``In addition to the $100, the developer has to lease from the city the nearby courthouse parking structure for 99 years,'' Georgino said.

Cusumano will not pay the lease for the first 20 months, but after that, will pay 80 percent of the cost of parking for the first five years, then 90 percent after that on the 190 parking spaces, she said.

The three-acre site - known as the Old Police Block - became available in 1997 after the city's police and fire departments moved into new headquarters at Orange Grove and Third Street.

Seal Beach-based Olson Co. initially proposed building a 300-room hotel and more than 1,000 parking spaces on most of the land, but failed to win approval from the city's planning board. It later won the bid to develop a $30 million project that will include a 140-unit town-house colony, as well as retail space and a restaurant.

``It's a project that a lot of other developers have walked away from,'' said Michael Cusumano, managing partner for the Cusumano Real Estate Group. ``This is not a project we would have undertaken in any other kind of market. But this is where our home office is and we're confident we're going to build a office space that will attract quality tenants.''

The project is estimated to cost $17 million. Cusumano has one year to close escrow on the deal. Construction is expected to begin in April 2004, Georgino said.

CAPTION(S):

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96,000-sq.-ft. office space