Armenian high school proposed for property

Once the location of a speak-easy, most of the 40-acre plot would go into Santa Monica conservancy.

By Tania Chatila

GLENDALE -- Nearly 40 acres of land abutting Crescenta Valley Park could soon be more than just open space. Granada Hills-based M. Jorjezian Investments Inc.is proposing construction of an Armenian high school and a condominium village on property it purchased from Mountain Oaks, LLC, about two months ago.

"We're trying to talk with all the neighbors to make sure everybody is OK with the project," said Yeznik Kazandjian, M. Jorjezian Investments' corporate attorney.

The vacant land is between Crescenta Valley Park and the Verdugo Mountains in Glendale, near the Whiting Woods neighborhood.

Kazandjian did not divulge the purchase price of the property, but did say that company officials plan on attending the Crescenta Valley Town Council's September meeting to flesh out some of the plans and get community input.

They are proposing to build the condominium village on nine acres of the land, and the high school -- which would likely serve about 500 students -- on six acres of the property, he said.

"The Armenian community in Glendale doesn't have a high school," he said. "The Armenian church has a junior high, they have an elementary school and they have a number of pre-schools and kindergartens, but no high school."

The remaining 25 acres will likely be handed over to the Santa Monica Conservancy, Kazandjian said.

"We want to conserve the natural environment in that area because it is a beautiful area," Kazandjian said, adding that the proposed condo village and school would be built on a flat area of the land, and the remaining hilly acreage would be given up.

The developer offered the open space to the city of Glendale, but city officials suggested it might be better to give it to the conservancy, Kazandjian said.

"It's still premature to make any kind of deduction or any kind of opinion on it," Crescenta Valley Town Council member Richard Toyon said. "No one has seen what their plans are, so it's really difficult to offer an opinion."

The property borders unincorporated La Crescenta, which the Town Council represents.

Toyon, president of the local conservancy group, Volunteers Organizing and Conserving the Environment, met with Kazandjian and Glendale Councilman Rafi Manoukian about two months ago to discuss the preliminary plans.

"Mr. Manoukian felt it would be a good thing to meet and to help smooth the waters," he said.

Toyon said the developer may have some trouble building on the site, which has several mature oak trees on it. They may also have some trouble with surrounding neighborhoods, and with their opinions of a high school coming in, he said.

But without any real plans, it's hard to say how the community will react to the proposed project, Toyon said.

"It's very preliminary," Kazandjian said.

"We have no target date at this point, but we're working on it diligently. Hopefully, in the next few months, we'll have something more concrete."

Rumors concerning the land's fate have been circulating through the community.

"I kind of heard it through the grapevine," said Mike Lawler, president of the Historical Society of the Crescenta Valley. "It's pretty rumor-esque. That land has been conspicuously vacant for a long, long time."

The land was originally the site for a speak-easy in the 1920s, but was later turned into a vacation-home site, Lawler said.

The owners of the property sold off 10-foot-by-10-foot lots to different owners, he said.

"It was kind of a goofy plan .... You could have owners in the hundreds, and some of them were never recorded," he said.

While he would have rather seen the land stay undeveloped, the idea of a school is promising, Lawler said.

"It's better than just straight condos, in my view," he said.

QUESTION

What do you think of plans to develop an area of Glendale between Crescenta Valley Park and the Verdugo Mountains? E-mail gnp@latimes.com or write to News-Press and Leader Community Forum, 111 W. Wilson Ave. Suite 200, Glendale, CA 91203. Please include your name and tell us your hometown and phone number for verification purposes only.

•  TANIA CHATILA covers City Hall. She may be reached at (818) 637-3232 or by e-mail at tania.chatilalatimes.com.