CityWalk Ready to Launch Second Phase

UNIVERSAL CITY —  Entertainment giant MCA Inc. has embarked on the second phase of construction at its popular CityWalk venue, a project that will nearly double the size of the current hilltop promenade of shops and restaurants but also has nearby homeowners fuming over expected noise and traffic.

The expansion will begin to take shape Friday with the opening of a Hard Rock Cafe at the east end of the existing 200,000-square-foot complex. Within the next 12 months, workers are expected to break ground on an additional block-long stretch that will feature CityWalk’s distinctive architecture--a collection of Los Angeles styles highlighted by copious neon signage.

It remains undecided which stores and eateries, or even how many new locations, will fit into the additional 150,000 square feet. Judging by the initial phase, as many as 30 sites could be added.

“It’s our obligation to keep CityWalk fresh,” said Ron Bension, chairman of MCA’s Recreation Services Group. “This type of entertainment requires some new excitement every once in a while.”

But some neighbors are saying the expansion will mean more of the kind of excitement they’d rather do without. “What a nightmare,” said Julian Ogalde, who lives on a ridge overlooking the property.

“The noise, of course, is incredible, and they keep adding parking lots and structures. They keep encroaching on the peace in our backyards and houses,” Ogalde said.

The expansion marks another step in MCA’s 25-year plan to transform its 415 acres into a destination resort, adding family-oriented hotels and additional attractions to a lineup that already includes the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park, a cinema multiplex and a massive film and television production studio.

It also underscores the success of CityWalk, which opened in May 1993 as an experimental combination of amusement and shopping, a hybrid that experts have since dubbed an “urban entertainment center.”

“In one sense, people went there and found it to be a familiar place. The circus-like street . . . reminded them of an old midway,” said David Sloane, an associate professor at USC’s School of Urban and Regional Planning, who recently studied the complex. “On the other hand, it’s different enough to be exciting.”

During the last 2 1/2 years, roughly 11 million people have passed beneath CityWalk’s hanging King Kong and strolled along its stone arcade. At a time when mall operators complain that the average consumer spends just one hour per shopping trip, CityWalk claims that its visitors linger an average of four hours.

“Other than Third Street Promenade and Old Pasadena, there’s no competition for this kind of entertainment,” Sloane said. “What surprised even MCA was that they got people coming back a lot of times.”

The blend of entertainment and retail--which was simultaneously developed at complexes such as the Mall of America in Minneapolis and the Shops at the Forum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas--has inspired a new breed of mall.

In Arcadia, a developer has proposed augmenting the Santa Anita racetrack with a retail district with an IMAX theater, a 25-screen multiplex and a virtual-reality game center. A Pittsburgh-based company has proposed a similar project for Downtown Los Angeles.

MCA also will open a 12-acre version of CityWalk, called the E-Zone, at Universal Studios Florida in January 1998.

Closer to home, however, CityWalk’s success has made for unexpected traffic and other nuisances in adjacent neighborhoods. Residents are not greeting news of the expansion with enthusiasm.

Though the second phase of construction was approved as part of CityWalk’s original plans, residents complained that MCA officials had misrepresented the scope of the project.

“They had painted a vision of a quaint little place where one could read a book and drink a cup of coffee,” said Tony Lucente, president of the Studio City Residents Assn. “Instead, you are inundated with masses of people.”

The recently completed USC study suggests that CityWalk already suffers from parking and traffic problems, Sloane said. And residents have asked for a number of mitigations, including construction of freeway offramps, additional internal roads and additional law enforcement on the property.

No such changes are included in immediate expansion plans, MCA officials said.

“I wouldn’t deprive any commercial venture the opportunity to make an honest dollar,” said the Rev. Steve Bangs, president of the Cahuenga Pass Property Owners Assn., which borders Universal City to the west. “But I’ve got to tell you, MCA skillfully duped and lied to the community.”

Such complaints parallel comments from urban planners who have called MCA civically irresponsible for spending millions to build a virtual-reality boulevard when so many actual Los Angeles neighborhoods and commercial areas are in need of renovation.

Bension bristles at the suggestion.

“Who else is investing in Los Angeles? Not aerospace. Not computer software,” he said. “When we invest in this, we’re betting on Los Angeles. If people don’t come to Los Angeles, if people here don’t have jobs and the streets aren’t safe, we’re in trouble.”

In addition to drawing tourist dollars to the area, he argued, MCA is the largest employer in the San Fernando Valley, with approximately 14,000 jobs on the property. The company claims it would add 14,000 more jobs over the next 2 1/2 decades if it gains approval for plans for a larger resort.

Toward that end, the theme park is nearing completion of a $100-million “Jurassic Park” ride. In late spring, it will construct a new entrance featuring a series of colonnades and a giant golden globe.

As for CityWalk, the new Hard Rock Cafe will serve as a centerpiece. Two stories tall with seating for 550 people, it will be one of the largest restaurants in the international chain. And the adjacent multiplex will be upgraded in coming months, officials said. The cinemas will be equipped with better sound systems and snack bars that will serve a greater variety of food.

“There will be more choices, more diversity, more of the things that attract people,” said Harrison Price, a Torrance-based analyst who prepared a market survey for MCA in the earliest stages of the project. “CityWalk goes hand-in-hand with the amphitheater and the movie theaters and the theme park.

“The demand for expansion is obviously there,” Price said. “It’s a slam-dunk.”