Burbank OKs Airport Hotel Expansion Project

The Burbank City Council granted approval Wednesday for a city-subsidized expansion of the Burbank Airport Hilton that would almost double the size of the hotel and add a 28,000-square-foot conference center.

The council voted 4 to 1 for the project after more than five hours of debate between supporters of the expansion and opponents who thought the city was unfairly assisting the project’s developer, Lew Wolff. Mayor Al F. Dossin cast the dissenting vote, saying he disapproved of some of the terms.

Wolff asked to add a 228-room tower to the Hilton’s current 280-room building and a conference center that would seat as many as 1,000 people.

City Manager Bud Ovrom said the city needs a center of this caliber. “It is embarrassing to see groups like our own Board of Realtors having their annual dinner-dance out of town because there is not a banquet room large enough in Burbank,” Ovrom said in a memo to council members.

He said the conference rooms would be used every day, “And that would be good for the city’s coffers as well as for community prestige.”

Wolff said he needed financing assistance from the city’s redevelopment agency to complete the project.

The expansion will include construction on acreage currently owned by Lockheed Corp. Under the agreement, the city will purchase 20 acres from Lockheed at $1 million an acre and sell as many as six acres to Wolff for the same price.

Hilton officials will have 10 years to pay for the land on a no-interest basis, officials said. City officials said the financing terms were favorable to Wolff to encourage him to build the conference center.

The city also agreed to provide a $6-million loan to Wolff if he has trouble meeting operating costs because of the expansion. The loan would come from taxes generated by the expansion, officials said.

The proposed expansion site now contains a 520,000-square-foot wooden building Lockheed has used as a warehouse since World War II. The building will be demolished.

The remainder of the 20 acres will be allocated for other city redevelopment projects, officials said.