Tennis Club Protests Metro Rail Proposal to Tear Down Center : Recreation: The MTA is reconsidering a plan to convert the facility into a parking facility in light of public outcry.

By HUGO MARTIN

Aug. 8, 1993 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

For 16 years, the owners of the Racquet Centre in Universal City have encouraged patrons to raise a racket for exercise and fun.

But now that the tennis and racquet club is in danger of being torn down to make room for a Metro Rail parking lot, supporters are being asked to raise a loud racket to save the center.

In letters mailed last month, the owners asked about 2,000 patrons to write to transportation officials and “let your voice be heard . . . Please do not put this off. The fate of the Racquet Centre hangs in the balance.”

And it appears members of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority are getting the message.

“We have been bombarded with letters,” said Rosa Kortizija, an aide to Supervisor Mike Antonovich, a longtime MTA member. She said the supervisor must study the situation further before responding. But so far, Kortizija said supporters of the center “are definitely making their presence known.”

MTA officials say the six-acre center on the corner of Ventura Boulevard and Vineland Avenue is one of three sites under consideration to provide the 840 parking spaces needed for a station on Lankershim Boulevard in Universal City that will serve the Metro Red Line when construction is completed in the year 2000.

Three environmental studies for the station have identified the Racquet Centre site as ideal for a park-and-shuttle lot, from which riders would be transported to the station about 700 yards away. The property, which could be taken from its owners under the MTA’s eminent domain powers, would also be used to build a new access street from Vineland Avenue to the station.

But there are other options still under consideration, said MTA project manager David Mieger.

One alternative would be to build the parking lot on the site of a condominium and apartment complex on Lankershim Boulevard adjacent to the station, he said. Some condominium owners actually favor selling their homes for the parking lot site, because they fear their property values would plummet once the lengthy station construction begins, Mieger said.

That alternative may have some drawbacks, such as eliminating the extra access street and putting nearly all traffic to and from the station on already-congested Ventura Boulevard, Mieger said.

Another option would be to rebuild the tennis center atop a parking structure at the same location, he said.

These and other options are being studied as part of a station master plan that will be completed in about four months, he said.

Even though there is still hope of saving the center, Thomas Von Der Ahe, a partner in the center, said he is worried about the future.

Von Der Ahe, who owns the center along with his brother, Charles, and other partners, said he has already received notice from MTA that the property is being assessed and considered for condemnation.

He said he could never find an equal location. “You can’t move it. There is no other site this size in such a populated area,” he said. “This is a very unique piece of property.”

The land, formerly excess freeway property, was purchased by Von Der Ahe and his brother in the 1970s at a Caltrans auction, he said.

Today, it has 20 tennis courts, 11 racquetball courts and two paddle tennis courts, catering to about 10,000 players a month, and is often the site of high school, amateur and corporate tennis tournaments.

“It would be really too bad for the community to lose this place,” said Annette Buck, adult tennis director for the Southern California Tennis Assn., which has used the center often for tournaments. She said there are few other locations available for tournaments.

Those who play and work at the Racquet Centre say moving or demolishing it would deprive the community of a popular recreation facility at a time when safe public parks are becoming scarce.

“There is nothing else in the area that’s compatible,” said Lish Dubley, a West Los Angeles resident and regular at the center who is nationally ranked among women tennis players in their 70s.

Her friend, Ellen Lotterman of North Hollywood, agreed. “When it opened, we had a place to basically call home,” she said.

So far, more than 500 patrons have signed petitions in the lobby of the center, asking MTA members to preserve the center, according to center director Naomi Bradford. She said the center employs about 60 men and women, many of whom are now questioning their future.

“I’m worried too,” she said.

Another regular tennis player at the center, Jared Milmeister, 14, of Studio City said he often rides his bicycle to the center and practices his game with friends from the neighborhood. If the center were razed, he said he might play at another club that is a bit further away, but it wouldn’t be the same.

“This is the best place,” he said. “It’s like a friendly place.”