NOHO COMING TO LIFE HOUSING, NEW SHOPS BRINGING RENAISSANCE TO COMMUNITY.

Byline: Lisa Mascaro Staff Writer

NORTH HOLLYWOOD - With 1,500 housing units approved or under construction and fresh retail shops on the horizon, the funky enclave around the NoHo Arts District has started to come alive with a redevelopment boom that could echo downtown's and Hollywood's.

Drawn by relatively cheap industrial land near the subway station and the Orange Line busway being built nearby, developers, officials and community leaders envision a renaissance in the heart of the east San Fernando Valley.

``This is a transportation hub - the junction of two major transit lines in this region that connect the San Fernando Valley to the rest of the city,'' said Zev Yaroslavky, a Los Angeles supervisor who also sits on the MTA board.

``The region has a golden opportunity to do something special, something intelligent, something that both serves the riders and generates riders.''

Longtime resident Guy Weddington McCreary, who helped draft the area's first master plan a generation ago, said many residents remain skeptical, even as they watch the transformation.

``Definitely, it is coming to fruition. It's been such a long struggle, I get tired thinking about it.''

Last year, shortly after taking over as head of the city's Community Redevelopment Agency, Robert ``Bud'' Ovrom pledged to jump-start NoHo after decades of failed attempts to revitalize the area.

NoHo Commons - a $200 million complex of apartments, lofts and shops being built with CRA assistance in the heart of the Arts District - is on track to open late next year or in early 2006.

But other developers have seized the momentum and without a dime of public funding have bought up land and started building apartments and shops.

Developer Daniel Markel took one look at the old Adolph's Meat Tenderizer plant and was taken with the prospect of building the Valley's first New York-style loft conversion project.

He paid $4.4 million for the 80,000-square-foot brick building and adjacent lot, and now is building 68 rental lofts - some with 22-foot high ceilings and 360-degree views.

Said Markel: ``We had a lot of people shaking their heads - 'You're out of your mind. They've been talking about doing this for 15 years. What makes you think it's going to happen now?'''

The project - a first for DT Ventures, which Markel runs with his brother - seemed like a sure thing after they saw ramshackle buildings in downtown Los Angeles being converted into housing.

``We were scratching our heads saying, Why isn't this happening in the San Fernando Valley? If you could have upscale professionals moving downtown to Skid Row ... I felt pretty strongly about the Valley,'' Markel said.

One of the area's bigger developers is Craig Jones, whose JSM Construction is building four apartment complexes, including the 15-story NoHo Tower along Lankershim Boulevard that is expected to be one of the Valley's tallest residential buildings built in a decade.

``(North Hollywood) to me, it's blatantly obvious, is another Santa Monica, Old Town Pasadena,'' he said.

Jones is the largest residential developer in Santa Monica's downtown, getting his start a decade ago by building apartments in rundown neighborhoods a few blocks from the popular Third Street Promenade.

``It takes somebody to take the risk and gamble - the pioneers,'' said developer Nick Patsaouras, a former board member of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, who is working with Jones on some of the projects.

The upswing comes none too soon for NoHo, where a redevelopment zone was carved out 25 years ago only to see hopes for city-led renewal falter.

Ovrom says the challenge now lies in the next phase - bringing in movie theaters, a hotel or other anchors - that will make NoHo ``something special.''

``Housing has really taken off. It's got a momentum. It's going great,'' he said. ``To me, the big thing now is to get these catalyst projects.''

Crucial to this next phase will be development of the MTA-owned parcels straddling Lankershim Boulevard, where a Red Line subway station and the Orange Line terminus create a transit hub.

The MTA has been cautious as development cropped up around its 14 acres, insisting on a bold vision for the pivotal area.

``Obviously, this is a really important site for us,'' said the MTA's Carole Inge. ``This development is going to be the cornerstone development on our MTA rail system for the next 50 to 100 years.

``I think it's important for the community to get the best development, the right development, making sure we go about this and do it right.''

The MTA and CRA already have dismissed plans for an 8,500-seat arena, saying it didn't fit with the community of residents, shops and cultural venues they are trying to create from the area's small, but vibrant, arts scene.

One idea Ovrom is considering would be to create a multiplex for performing arts - for example, a complex of 99-seat theaters to foster the dozens of smaller theaters now in the area while bringing in vitality.

City Councilman Tom LaBonge, another MTA board member, dreams of re-creating the old Palomino nightclub, a fixture on Lankershim Boulevard for years, in NoHo.

``I hope the funk still remains as always, but there's a splash of other retail that would excite people and entice people,'' LaBonge said.

Hopes are high that if the economy remains favorable to development, more retail and cultural offerings will come together in the next year.

``These are catalytic projects that can reverse the trend of being neglected, and focus some investment on the East Valley,'' said Dan Rosenfeld of Urban Partners, which is developing near other MTA sites outside of NoHo. ``It's full of potential. It's just a really good thing for the city, the transit system, the Valley.''

Many community leaders have long touted the potential of NoHo, with the convergence of the subway and the coming Orange Line busway, for the kind of smart growth, transit-oriented development that is increasingly being seen in Los Angeles.

``The No. 1 complaint that most folks have is traffic. I don't think you ever avoid gridlock by continuing to suburbanize further and further out in our region,'' said NoHo Commons' Cliff Goldstein, a senior partner with the J.H. Snyder Co.

``If I can have thousands more people living near a transit site and not have to traverse the Valley ... I really think the North Hollywood area really has tremendous potential.''

Ovrom hopes the CRA will secure agreements over the next year for the next projects the agency wants to come online.

It's now preparing development guidelines that will specify land uses in the area and proposals for streamlining the building process. They are expected to go to the CRA board in coming weeks, and the guidelines will be up for public review.

The CRA is also trying to form a Business Improvement District, asking property owners to tax themselves for new streetscape improvements, including a gateway sign at Lankershim Boulevard, scheduled to break ground in summer.

``NoHo has been through so much ... The subway got built. The residential got ignited,'' Ovrom said. ``I really think the time is ripe. I really think in '05 we can jump to that next plateau.''

Lisa Mascaro, [phone]

lisa.mascaro(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

3 photos, box, map

Photo:

(1) A construction crane looms in the sky near the MTA subway station in North Hollywood. Officials plan to surround the transit hub with residences and retail shops.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer

(2) WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE NOW

At 15 stories, the NoHo Tower under construction along Lankershim Boulevard is expected to be one of the Valley's tallest residential buildings built in a decade.

(3) WHAT IT WILL LOOK LIKE

An artist's rendition shows the completed 15-story NoHo Tower, part of a wave of redevelopment and construction under way or soon to begin in North Hollywood.

Box/Map:

NOHO'S BUILDING BOOM

SOURCE: City of Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency

Gregg Miller/Staff Artist