Calabasas : Developer to Reduce Size of Park Centre

The developer of a controversial, planned office and retail center in Calabasas has agreed to make key revisions in the project to make it more palatable to critics.

John Kilroy has agreed to reduce the retail portion of Calabasas Park Centre from the 200,000 square feet approved by the city to 110,000 square feet, project manager Mark Ossola said Friday. In return, Ossola said, Kilroy would retain the option of increasing the retail component later, should market forces warrant it.

Also, Ossola said, Kilroy has agreed to consolidate the retail portion on the north side of Park Sorrento, instead of building on the north and south sides of the street, as was originally planned.

The City Council approved the 1.3-million-square-foot project, at the corner of Calabasas Road and Parkway Calabasas, in 1994 on the condition that Kilroy allow community input in the master plan.

Ossola said the revisions came at the urging of a community task force formed to develop a universally accepted master plan. Kilroy has been meeting with the group since last summer.

Allan Cooper, chairman of the task force, said Friday he was pleased with the proposed revisions. He said consolidating the retail component, among other things, will make the project more pleasing aesthetically, while allowing for smoother traffic flow.

Kilroy, a partner in the project with Ahmanson Commercial Development, has also been quietly negotiating with a group that launched a successful drive to place a referendum for the Calabasas Park Centre on the ballot. One of the sticking points in the negotiations is a planned movie theater in which the developer reportedly wanted at least 1,700 seats and the referendum group wanted far less.

Cooper said Kilroy and the master plan task force will meet again March 18, then hold a public meeting to allow the community to see the proposed master plan. The task force will meet one more time after that, Cooper said, then bring the plan to the Planning Commission.