CRA Taps Snyder for Adams Project

LOS ANGELES-The Community Redevelopment Agency has entered a six-month agreement to negotiate exclusively with the J.H. Snyder Co. to develop a major mixed-use project on three sites on Adams Boulevard from La Brea Avenue to Redondo Boulevard. The Adams La Brea project, in the CRA's Mid-City Recovery Redevelopment Project Area, is designed to replace damaged and blighted buildings with retail, residential and other new development.A CRA spokeswoman tells GlobeSt.com that after the six-month negotiation period, the CRA will await the completion of an environmental impact report before deciding whether to enter into a development agreement for the project. Snyder is already working with the agency on another project, NoHo Commons in North Hollywood.Snyder envisions developing the project in partnership with a builder of affordable housing, the Los Angeles Community Design Center, according to Cliff Goldstein, a managing partner with Snyder. The proposed project would be designed by architect Jon Jerde to include open gathering places, a mix of new rental and for-sale housing, a community center, full-service restaurants and a neighborhood supermarket.Snyder was chosen from a group of five developer proposals, according to the CRA, which is calling for the construction of approximately 250,000 sf of retail on the north side of Adams Boulevard that would provide a minimum of 250 living wage jobs and would generate $150 million a year in taxable sales. The proposal also calls for the development of approximately 120 new housing units.The Snyder Co. is working with Figueroa Media Group and Handelman Consulting Inc. to gather local input for the project, which is the CRA's second attempt at redeveloping the project area. The agency formerly was negotiating with a group called Adams La Brea Development LLC, but those negotiations ended in February 2003 after several extensions of the exclusive negotiating agreement.