Retail, Senior-Citizen Use : $10-Million Project for Golden Mall Advances

Burbank developer Thomas Tunnicliffe said Thursday that he is proceeding with plans to build a $10-million, four-story retail and senior-citizen project on the city’s Golden Mall.

Tunnicliffe said that, although the Burbank City Council has yet to give the project final approval, he believes that it will do so next month.

The council, acting as the city’s redevelopment agency, gave the project preliminary approval Tuesday. A hearing on possible minor revisions is scheduled Monday before the city’s planning board.

The minimum age for residents in the project, which is expected to be completed by late 1988, will be 60, city officials said.

The project, to be situated at the intersection of the Golden Mall and Palm Avenue, would replace a building that now houses several businesses, including Morey’s Boutique & Shoes, See’s Candies, and the Addison Hotel. The building has been deemed seismically unsafe by the city’s Public Works Department and will be demolished, Tunnicliffe said.

The pedestrian mall is being rebuilt to handle vehicular traffic.

Tunnicliffe’s project would consist of 136 senior-citizen efficiency units on the second, third and fourth floors and retail space for up to six stores on the first floor. It would include at least 112 parking places, he said.

The building would have a roof garden, Tunnicliffe said, with an air-conditioned lanai, a jogging and walking trail, and sunning and lounging areas.

Tunnicliffe was one of several builders who proposed developing the 40-acre downtown Burbank location of the proposed Towncenter shopping mall after that project collapsed. The city gave the Walt Disney Co. an option to develop the property.