Prominent Burbank intersection to feature 144-unit apartment project

Worthe to build across the street from the Burbank Studios complex

Worthe Real Estate's Jeff Worthe with 3201 W. Olive Avenue (Getty Images, Wolcott Architecture)
Worthe Real Estate's Jeff Worthe with 3201 W. Olive Avenue (Getty Images, Wolcott Architecture)

Worthe Real Estate Group aims to build 144 apartments near The Burbank Studios, once home to NBC’s “The Tonight Show.”

The Santa Monica-based developer has filed plans to build a mixed-use complex and pocket park on a wedge-shaped lot at 3201 West Olive Avenue, Urbanize Los Angeles reported.

The Bob Hope Center Residential project would sit at the juncture of Olive and West Alameda avenues, north of the 134 Freeway. The Burbank Studios, formerly known as NBC Studios, are across the street.

Plans call for a five-story complex above 1,058 square feet of ground-floor shops and restaurants. A two-level underground garage would serve an unspecified number of cars.

The apartments would come in studio, one- and two-bedroom units, with 15 set aside as affordable for households earning the very-low incomes.

The L-shaped complex, designed by Wolcott Architecture, would include floor-to-ceiling windows divided by brown or white panels. A swimming pool and patio deck would face Olive Avenue.

The apartments would be built on the fat side of the triangular lot, to the west of California Street, which is closed to car traffic. The pointy end of the lot would include Bob Hope Park, with a bronze statue of the late comedian wielding a golf club wearing a top hat and tails.

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Worthe is seeking streamlined permitting for the development in accord with SB 35.

For Worthe, Burbank is like a second home. In 2007 the company led by Jeff Worthe teamed up with Stockbridge Real Estate to buy the 35-acre former headquarters of NBC Entertainment at 3000 West Alameda Avenue for $250 million.

The company is now selling most of the property, now known as The Burbank Studios, to its original owner, Warner Bros. The $1 billion deal, part of a larger land swap, is set to close next year.

In the meantime, Worthe kept 7 acres along the 134 Freeway, where they’re developing the Warner Bros. Second Century Expansion, an 800,000-square-foot office project designed by architect Frank Gehry. The offices, which resemble icebergs lined along the freeway, will be leased back to Warner Bros.

Meanwhile, on the nearby Warner Bros. Ranch lot at 411 North Hollywood Way, Worthe plans to build a 926,000-square-foot redevelopment, including 16 sound stages, a 320,000-square-foot office complex, production support facilities, a parking garage and a commissary.

— Dana Bartholomew

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