Valley Plaza in North Hollywood faces demolition as public nuisance

Declaring Valley Plaza a public nuisance

It may been the final nail in the coffin for the Valley Plaza in North Hollywood.

LOS ANGELES - On Tuesday, city officials and community members are set to request that a Los Angeles commission declare the dilapidated Valley Plaza in North Hollywood a dangerous public nuisance, potentially leading to its demolition at the owner's expense.

What we know:

Valley Plaza, located along Victory Boulevard, is a mixed-use shopping center with some businesses still operational, owned by a different developer. However, the primary concern is with several buildings owned by the Charles Company, which have fallen into disrepair. 

Some say these buildings are empty and have become sites for fires and break-ins. The councilman for the district, Adrin Nazarian, is advocating for these buildings to be declared a public nuisance at a meeting of the board of commissioners of building and public safety.

The backstory:

Valley Plaza opened in 1951 and was once the pride of the valley, being the region's first outdoor shopping mall. Over the years, parts of the plaza have deteriorated significantly, leading to the current situation where the city is considering demolition.

‘It was horrific to see what was going on inside’

What they're saying:

,"It was horrific to see what was going on inside. The trash, the human excrement, just the condition that it had been in, it showed us that none of the staff members nor the owners of the building even bothered to show up to see the condition their building is in. So you know right there from that picture, they don't care about this property, they just care about the investment. And they're just looking to make a dollar on this," Councilman Adrin Nazarian said. 

What's next:

The city recently conducted a cleanup of a large homeless encampment on the property, with several nonprofits and the Los Angeles Police Department offering housing to those affected. 

While many accepted the offer, others refused. Caltrans is currently working on cleaning up the site. The councilman has been trying to reach the building owners for a long time over these issues, but he feels their response has come too late. The decision on whether to declare the buildings a public nuisance and proceed with demolition will be made at the upcoming commission meeting.