Josh Kleinbaum
With one short sentence, developer Rick Caruso delivered a tumultuous
ending to the controversial Town Center project, walking away from a
$5-million investment and thousands of hours of work.
"We will withdraw our permit, and our interest ... has ceased to
be involved on this project," Caruso told the City Council late
Tuesday.
Just like that, the $264.2-million Town Center -- arguably the
city's most important project in a quarter-century -- died, sending
shockwaves throughout City Hall and splintering the City Council.
The project, a proposed 15.5-acre commercial and residential
campus in downtown Glendale, collapsed due to a seldom-used provision
in the city charter that could require unanimous approval for zoning
changes. The council considered an alternate process Tuesday that
would require a simple majority to approve the changes, which include
lowering housing density and raising the height limit of buildings
for the Town Center.
The council never actually took a vote -- Councilman Dave Weaver
stormed out of the meeting before the opportunity arose -- but three
members said they would not support the alternate plan, arguing that
it circumvented the spirit of the city charter.
"To me, this has nothing to do with what this project is,"
Councilman Bob Yousefian said. "It has everything to do with this
document called the charter of the city of Glendale. I stood here
three years ago and took an oath to uphold the charter of the city of
Glendale. I was telling the truth."
The problem lies in Article 15, Section 2 of the city's charter,
which says that any zoning change must be unanimous if the property
owners of 20% of fronting property oppose the change. General Growth
Properties, which owns the Glendale Galleria, opposed it. The
Galleria is adjacent to the Town Center site, so General Growth, with
the support of anchor tenant Robinsons-May, could have blocked the
change.
Yousefian, Mayor Frank Quintero and Councilman Gus Gomez would not
support the alternative. Quintero opposed the project altogether,
while Yousefian and Gomez said they objected to changing the process,
not to the project.
Weaver and Councilman Rafi Manoukian supported the alternative
process, and blasted their colleagues for abandoning the project.
"After three-and-a-half years of work, a lot of hours on the part
of everyone -- the council members, the developer, city staff and
community members -- it's unfortunate that this project falls on a
