New Studio City Shopping Center to Replace Sportsmen’s Lodge Events Center
For over 130 years, the iconic Sportsmen’s Lodge has greeted residents and visitors at the heart of Studio City.Centered in the Los Angeles film capitol, the hotel and events center has been the place to stay for renowned movie stars like John Wayne, Clark Gable, and Bette Davis. But come 2016, the events center will be gone.
City planners in the south San Fernando Valley approved the demolition of the Sportsmen’s Lodge events center to make way for the construction of a mixed-use shopping center in its place last week on Wednesday.
Exceeding expectations, more than 100 people attended the meeting, which the committee’s president said is the most people he’s seen in his six years of office. Residents, alarmed by the plan to demolish the events center, asked the city to call this meeting to appeal the project. Studio City residents and business owners filled the rows of a small fluorescently lit Van Nuys courtroom. Over the course of five hours, 56 people stood before the five-membered committee and either expressed approval or disapproval of the appeal.
Real estate developer, Richard Weintraub, who owns Sportsmen’s Lodge, is planning to replace the events center with a $60 million 98,000 square-foot shopping center called Sportsmen’s Landing that will include stores, restaurants, a fitness center, and 446 parking spaces.
“It just doesn’t feel like a good time to bombard us with new development,” said Sandy Fox, a 25-year-resident who lives 200 feet from the proposed project area.
Sportsmen’s Landing will be built along Coldwater Canyon Venue and Ventura Boulevard. Residents like Fox told the committee that they were concerned about the traffic and noise pollution that the shopping center might bring to those streets. Fox said as it is, her neighborhood is directly impacted by foot traffic, sound and lights at night. She is also concerned because the shopping center will border the Los Angeles River and she lives on the other side. She said the river acts as an amphitheater for sound.
But representatives from the Studio City Business Improvement District believe the benefit to the surrounding businesses and community is far greater than problems with traffic, which they say is unavoidable in the area.
“Back in the 1920s people were complaining about parking and traffic. This is never going to end,” said Lorena Parker, executive director of the Studio City BID. “From a business improvement point of view, this is a good project for the community. Our emphasis is on having good businesses in the area and we believe this is a fantastic project for the area.”
In Parker’s speech before the planning commission, she said the BID plans to launch a free shuttle bus that will run a 1.5-mile stretch along Ventura Boulevard between Coldwater Canyon Avenue and Radford Avenue. She said the BID hopes this will ease potential traffic problems. “Shoppers preferences shift towards outdoor lifestyle centers and leisure amenities,” Parker said in her speech.
The shopping center will update the ponds and maintain the trees that currently exist there. “The Sportsmen’s Landing project will be able to transition from an outdated banquet hall center into a 21st century lifestyle center with beautiful landscaping and water features,” Parker said.
Parker believes the shopping center will draw more visitors and tourists to the area. “The international tourism industry is growing exponentially,” Parker said. “They’re not going to stay at the Sportsmen’s Lodge unless there’s something there that’s going to attract them there.” She believes this flow will improve the surrounding businesses.
Supporters of the appeal came to the meeting with large signs that read, “STOP Sportsmen’s Lodge Mega Mall.” But Alfredo Annino, one of the original founders of the Studio City BID, believes there is misconception about what the project will look like. “It’s not a mega mall,” he said. “It’s a very low-key, low-rise building with restaurants and the ability to be mobile between them.”
A recurring concern that residents raised was noise pollution. But Tim Smith, the Vice President of Operations for Broughton Hotels, which manages Sportsmen’s Lodge, said a hotel with an events center has the guests who are the noisiest and most difficult to handle. “The shift in demographics away from that is going to do nothing but take the current noise level to a fraction of where it currently is,” Smith said before the commissioners.
Smith, who has been working in the hospitality industry for 25 years, said he expects a change in demographics. “I can tell you that in my years of experience, anytime there is a shift in dynamics from a rundown type convention center into an upscale mixed use type of retail space connected to a hotel, the number one benefit is that there is a shift of demographic at the hotel,” said Smith. He said the clientele becomes more upscale, which will increase the spending per guest in not only the hotel but also the surrounding markets.
Businesses like Shiki Sushi, which lies along the border of Sportsmen’s Lodge, look forward to the changes that the shopping center will bring to the area.
“I think it’s going to be good. I want to see,” said Ken Cho, an employee at the Japanese restaurant. Cho actually lives 45 minutes away in the suburb of Valencia, Santa Clarita. He chooses to commute to his job in Studio City because of the adventure and for the diversity of people he gets to meet. The approval of the project has only increased his excitement.
The manager of the restaurant, Matthew Kim, is unconcerned about the potential competition that the shopping center might bring. “Sixty to 70 percent of our customers are regulars, so we’re not too worried about that because our regulars come constantly,” Kim said. “It will actually bring us more traffic within this area, which we have plenty of. It’s a positive thing we look forward to.” Kim said Ventura Boulevard, on which Sportsmen’s Landing will be built, is known to have more Japanese restaurants than anywhere outside of Japan, and yet, he still maintains a heavy customer flow.
Also along the border of Sportsmen’s Lodge is Victoria’s, a small antique shop. Victoria Vlad, the original owner, recently moved to this location about five months ago although her store has been around for about two decades.
Vlad, a businesswoman and nearby resident, is excited about the shopping center. Like Kim, she is unconcerned about competition because she says her customer base is made up of regulars. But with her new location, she still hopes more people will discover her store. “I know not everybody will agree with me because they said more traffic. But at the same time, I would like to have more tourists here,” Vlad said. “It’s a great place. I live 10 minutes from here and I just love it.”
