Riverwalk developer changes course
By John Loesing
Acorn Staff Writer

Los Angeles-based J.H. Snyder Co. proposed new plans last week for the Agoura Riverwalk, a 40-acre development that would include restaurants, offices, apartments and open space just north of the 101 Freeway in Agoura Hills.

The $70 million project, which would straddle Medea Creek in the area east of Kanan Road north of Canwood Street, is projected for three restaurants, 336 apartments and 95,000 square feet of office space.

The city, which stands to gain $5 million in development fees and right-of-way donations to help build the much needed Kanan interchange improvements, welcomed the plan.

"The mixed-use approach is an outstanding approach," said Diane Walker, a member of the Agoura Hills Planning Commission. "It harks back to the days when people lived like this, where you could walk to work and dine there."

The commission will have formal hearings on the project this fall.

Last year, Snyder proposed a six-building, 400,000 square-foot office complex at the same site, but he said he changed his mind when he saw demand for office space drop in conjunction with the falling technology sector.

"I woke up at three in the morning and said to myself, ‘Self, this would never work in today’s market as all high tech,’" Snyder said.

Despite dim prospects for economic growth in the coming few quarters, Agoura Hills has more than 500,000 square feet of office buildings either recently completed or in the planning stages. Fearing high vacancy rates and recognizing the growing demand for multi-family housing, Snyder opted for the mixed-use approach.

The apartments, which will be the first in Agoura Hills in more than 20 years, include 144 one-bedroom and 192 units ranging from $1,500 to $2,400 a month in rent. Each unit would have a private outdoor entrance at the front of the buildings and would share underground parking.

The Riverwalk apartments will be subject to a state mandate that says all new residential developments must provide a certain amount of affordable housing or pay in-lieu fees to finance the rehabilitation of older housing. Under the Agoura Hills Single Family Housing Rehabilitation Program, for example, qualified homeowners receive grants and low interest loans to make home improvements.

"We’ve built a very nice product, but some of it’s going to be affordable according to the city’s policies," said John Gebhardt, the Snyder Co. senior vice president.

Gebhardt didn’t say how many Riverwalk dwellings would fall under the affordable housing law and how rents might be affected.

The two office buildings would be 45,000 and 50,000 square feet, but Gebhardt said the smaller structure might become a hotel instead. The development also calls for 17,000 square feet of restaurant space.

The developers plan to raze Denny’s Restaurant on Canwood Street, a longtime business whose large pole sign caused ill will in the city for years. The sign remains despite the city’s legal attempts to remove it.

The company’s long-term lease has a termination clause, according to Gebhardt.

The Snyder Co. paved the way for Riverwalk by purchasing nine parcels from more than 20 individual owners, including a six-acre parcel given to the city by the Kanan family for construction of a city library. The city is using proceeds from the sale to build its new library on Agoura Road, which is scheduled to open this fall.

Prime Retailers of Maryland proposed a 300,000 square-foot shopping center at the site in 1998, but that plan failed.