Huge Los Angeles Center project being redesigned; site now envisioned as future 'CityWalk of downtown.' (Special Report: Real Estate)

Los Angeles Center -- the massive, as-yet-unbuilt development designed to house Unocal Corp.'s new headquarters -- is in the process of being rewritten again. The site, just west of the Harbor (110) Freeway, is being redesigned to become the "CityWalk of downtown," complete with a pro sports arena.

Additionally, project designers are including retail space where event-goers could shop and unwind before or after arena events. The project's major commercial component, an office tower to house Unocal's corporate headquarters, remains intact.

Whether or not this proposed project ever sees the light of day, however, depends not so much on the developer getting the proper permits as it does on one or more local sports teams agreeing to tenant the new arena.

A second issue, of course, is whether or not the developer, a partnership between Hillman Properties and Smith & Hricik, can secure financing for buildin the arena. The developer did get the green light from the City of Los Angeles t build the original version of the development, which did not include the sports arena and the accompanying retail component. But financing has been scarce, so the project remains on the drawing board.

The Hillman/Smith & Hricik partnership hopes it can convince at least one local sports team to consider moving to a new arena. The developer argues that, because its project is further along than rival sites in and around the downtow Los Angeles area, it is a more attractive alternative for local sports teams.

Hillman/Smith & Hricik's main competition to building a new sports arena is San Francisco-based Catellus Development Corp. That company has acknowledged it is hoping to build an arena near Union Station.

The Union Station site "makes a lot of sense," said Ted Tanner, vice president of Catellus. "The fact is that this will be the easiest site to get to in the region. It already has a lot of parking in place," he added. In addition, the site is a mass transit hub for rail and bus lines.

Tanner stated, however, that Catellus and Hillman/Smith & Hricik are not hotly competing to develop a downtown Los Angeles sports arena. Rather, the goal is t get one arena built because it would be "an economic stimulus, and that is good." Tanner added that the city has great sports teams but, unfortunately, th existing facilities are less than state of the art.

"I would hate to see L.A. lose them because we can't house them," said Tanner.

Catellus' land around Union Station can be used for government development, but is not entitled for commercial uses. Entitlements would have to be obtained to accommodate a sports arena.

Likewise, Los Angeles Center is entitled for office towers and a hotel. However Hillman spokesman John Semcken stated that the L.A. Center site is further alon in the development process, and hopefully that fact may put Hillman/Smith & Hricik over the top in its negotiations with the sports teams.

"We have a development agreement with the city already in place," said Semcken. "No one else has that. We have also completed our specific plan, and no one els has that." Both the entitlements and the environmental impact report would have to be revised, he conceded. The fact that there is no debt on the property may make obtaining financing easier as well, said Semcken.

Hillman/Smith & Hricik has also contracted with architectural firm Ellerbe Becket to design what Semcken called a "state-of-the-art" sports and entertainment facility. He said designs should be complete within the next few weeks, at which time they will be shopped around to sports teams.

So far, it has been determined that the arena would seat about 20,000 people. Preliminary designs also call for more than 160 luxury box suites, which may be outfitted with communications equipment for corporate clients. The arena is als being designed to feature a clubhouse that would be unlike any in town. The clu would sit about four or five stories off the playing surface, with windows on both sides of it. That way, explained Semcken, basketball or hockey fans would have the choice of watching the game or gazing at a spectacular view of the downtown skyline.