CRA's new Hollywood boss moves quickly to shift focus.

HELMI Hisserich, new director of Community Redevelopment Agency s Hollywood operations, walked into her offices last week and proceeded to shake things up.

A former economic advisor to Richard Riordan, Hisserich said she wants to spend more time on creating housing and tourism jobs and less on high-profile commercial developments.

"We need to focus our investment on things that will create jobs and really serve the community," she said. "I think our focus will be on our core industries and on housing."

It is a marked change from the approach taken by her predecessor, Donna Hemer, who oversaw the CRA's Hollywood activity during a period of major development. That included the $615 million Hollywood & Highland complex, the $90 million Cinerama Dome/ArcLight complex, the $125 million Sunset + Vine mixed-use project now under construction and a mixed-use project proposed for Hollywood and Vine.

Hisserich said the larger projects have created the momentum needed to attract further private investment. Now, she said, the CRA needs to support Hollywood's entertainment and health care industries, which she said provide the bulk of the community's jobs.

The CRA will also focus on more beautification projects in Hollywood to ensure the community continues to attract tourists, she said.

"We need to continue to make this an attractive place for tourists to come," she said. "That will go a long way toward building up the local economic base."

Hisserich's appointment is part of a reorganization plan put into effect when Robert "Bud" Ovrom took over as the CRA's chief executive five months ago. Hemer was transferred to the Hoover Project Area, a revitalization effort near the campus of the University of Southern California.

CRA planners and other Hollywood staff based in the CRA's downtown offices on Spring Street will now work out of the Hollywood CRA office, which is moving to 6255 Sunset Blvd., the Sunset Media Tower, from the Johnny Grant Building at 7018 Hollywood Blvd.

Beyond the additional office space, Hisserich said the move is intended to show the CRA is taking a much broader view of its work in Hollywood.

Cheaper to Build

Luxury resort developer Lewis Wolff, deciding that the economics of hotel investing just don't add up, is shifting his focus to building.

"I've looked at the market and right now, and it's better to build a new hotel than to buy an existing one," he said. "The market for properties is just too overvalued right now. It's one thing to buy a hotel that's in an irreplaceable location, but the market has a lot of hotels that aren't worth their purchase price."

Part of that plan involves development of a 105-room hotel in Ontario that will be managed by Marcus Corp.'s Baymont Inns & Suites.

The four-story hotel, under construction adjacent to the Ontario Mills mall, will be principally owned by Wolff's development company, Wolff Urban Management, and is set to open next month.

Wolff said he was a fraternity brother of Marcus Corp.'s chairman and chief executive, Steve Marcus, and of Bud Selig, commissioner of Major League Baseball and chairman of the Marcus board, at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Publicly traded Marcus is based in Milwaukee.

Marcus' Baymont brand operates 250 hotels in 33 states and is planning to roll out new hotels across Southern California over the next several years. In addition to Ontario, the company said it is scouting locations in San Diego, Anaheim, Arcadia, Pasadena and near LAX.

Back on the Table

Developers Steve Ullman and Larry Worchell are moving forward with plans for a three-story, 37,000 square foot mixed-use commercial project at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Orange Drive.

Located just east of Mann's Chinese Theater, the project was initially scheduled to be completed by the time Hollywood & Highland opened, but when Frederick's of Hollywood--the project's anchor tenant--filed for bankruptcy protection in 2000 and pulled out of its lease, the project was put on hold, according Jack Rubens, an attorney with Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP representing the developer.

The partners are scheduled to appear Sept. 8 before the Zoning Administration Board of the Los Angeles Department of City Planning for final approval.

Rubens said if the project proceeds without further disruption, construction could begin by mid 2004 even if no tenants were signed.

Staff reporter Andy Fixmer can be reached by phone at [phone], ext. 263, or by email at [e-mail].