SIZZLER TO CALL GALLERIA CORPORATE HOME.Byline: Gregory J. Wilcox Staff Writer SHERMAN OAKS - The Sherman Oaks Galleria Sherman Oaks Galleria is a shopping mall and business center located in the Sherman Oaks neighborhood of Los Angeles, California at the corner of Ventura and Sepulveda Boulevards in the San Fernando Valley. Locals colloquially refer to the mall simply as "the Galleria. , birthplace of the ``Valley Girl'' craze, continued its buttoned-down transformation on Monday as a big restaurant chain said it would make the facility its world headquarters. Sizzler siz·zler n. 1. One that sizzles. 2. Informal A very hot day. International Inc., currently based in Culver City Culver City, city (1990 pop. 38,793), Los Angeles co., S Calif., a residential suburb of Los Angeles; inc. 1917. It is a center of the U.S. motion-picture industry, whose roots in the city date to c.1915. Its chief manufactures are rubber products and computers. , has leased 22,402 square feet in the Galleria's garden office building. Terms are 10 years at more than $7 million. The deal is part of a two-year makeover at the mall that places a greater emphasis on commercial uses. The facility is owned by a partnership between Santa Monica-based Galleria Park Partners LLC (Logical Link Control) See "LANs" under data link protocol. LLC - Logical Link Control and Douglas Emmett & Co., which bought the property in the late 1990s. Sizzler plans to move into its new offices, which take up most of the third floor, in late October. It's a major move for the company, which has been on the city's Westside since the 1960s. ``The real estate market prompted us to look outside this area. Space was at a premium and prices were very high,'' said Diane Hardesty, Sizzler's chief administrative officer A chief administrative officer (CAO) is responsible for administrative management of private, public or governmental corporations. The CAO is one of the highest ranking members of an organization, managing daily operations and usually reporting directly to the chief executive . About 65 people will work at Sizzler's headquarters and efforts are being made to retain as many of the Culver City employees as possible, she said. The Valley beat out downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area. The sprawling, multi-centered megacity is such that its downtown core is often considered just another district like Hollywood or for another major corporate nameplate. Sizzler, which operates more than 400 restaurants worldwide, including four on the Valley floor, settled on the Galleria because of the tenant improvements being made at the facility. ``This was the only project we were drawn to because it was new, the location of the Galleria is very central ... and it's a first-class project, it's very elegant so you get a lot for your money,'' Hardesty said. Tom Festa of Grubb & Ellis' north Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. office and Mike Hobbs of the firm's corporate services Activities that combine or consolidate certain enterprise-wide needed support services, provided based on specialized knowledge, best practices, and technology to serve internal (and sometimes external) customers and business partners. group represented Sizzler in the transaction. Tony Acerra and Gina Guarino of Douglas, Emmett & Co. represented the landlord, Galleria Park Partners LLC. The Galleria, which will officially reopen sometime this fall, has a good lineup of tenants. For example, Warner Bros BROS Brothers BROS Benefits and Retirement Operations Section (King County, Washington) BROS Barnes and Richmond Operatic Society (London, UK) . located its animation unit in what used to be the May Co. department store and MCI Communications This article is about MCI before it merged with WorldCom. For other uses, see MCI. MCI Communications was an American telecommunications company that was instrumental in legal and regulatory changes that led to the breakup of the AT&T monopoly of American telephony and has offices in the complex. Other tenants include a 16-screen Pacific Theater Pacific Theater or Pacific Theatre may refer to
About 75 percent of the commercial space and 80 percent of the retail space been leased, said Mike Keurjian, the Galleria's general manager. ``The amenities for the tenants are just dynamite,'' he said. The mall, initially built for $100 million-plus, has a rich history. It opened in November 1980, was locally famous for its open-air design and was anchored by the May Co. and Robinsons. In 1982 it burst - omigod! - into American urban lore when Moon Unit Zappa recorded a hit song called ``Valley Girl''. Not long after came the movie starring Nicolas Cage and the Galleria was also featured in the film ``Fast Times at Ridgemont High.'' Combined, they turned the Galleria into an icon, a place to see and be seen that helped spawn a new way of talking, Valspeak. Initially, being the official home away from home for the Vals was a plus for the mall. Eventually, though, some older shoppers didn't groove on the teen scene so the Galleria tried to reinvent its image, but never fully succeeded. In March 1999, the mall closed and its transformation to an office and entertainment complex began. ``It's like a monument to the Valley is coming down,'' Martha Coolidge, who in 1983 directed the movie ``Valley Girl,'' which featured the mall prominently, said at the time. ``It makes me sad, because it is sort of a California cultural monument. Everyone in the country knew what the Galleria was.'' CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) The Galleria's futuristic garden office building juts out amid construction work on Monday. Tina Burch/Staff Photographer |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion