A Burbank landlord trying to land a trendy ice cream shop tenant got a critical assist from the city that helped seal the deal.When a Van Leeuwen Ice Cream representative came to look at his space in the center of downtown Burbank in April, a senior city official was there to help woo the brand, said Kurt Kaufman of West Coast Investors, which owns the property. “She said, ‘Look, guys, we aren’t the city of L.A. We can make things happen,’” he recalled. “They were able to open in quite record speed.”Van Leeuwen had expected to have to wait until next year, but was able to open its doors in time for peak ice cream season, summer, in part because of the city’s help. While downtown Los Angeles is languishing, Burbank is booming. Its secret formula, the city says, is embracing businesses, helping the homeless and keeping streets clean, to make downtown a go-to destination for more shoppers, diners and commuters. “You have to be vigilant with your maintenance, with your homeless outreach, with outreach to businesses, with your marketing and PR,” said Community Development Director Patrick Prescott. “It’s just constant vigilance.” A man walks past a mural on Orange Grove Avenue off of San Fernando Boulevard. (David Butow / For The Times) Much has changed since “Beautiful Downtown Burbank” was a running joke on midcentury TV shows such as “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.”It still has Bob’s Big Boy, the last restaurant of a once-large chain known for its chubby mascot, and Milt & Edie’s, a quirky pink-awninged 24-hour tailor and dry cleaner dating to the 1980s.Young city staffers don’t remember Carson or Bob Hope, whose name was taken off the local airport in 2017, but they are helping build a new identity for the unassuming but world-famous enclave, home to major studios Warner Bros. Discovery and Walt Disney. The new name of the airport, Hollywood Burbank Airport, points to the bigger branding Burbank is aiming for. The airport is getting a new $1.3-billion terminal set to open in October. The city tries to keep its idiosyncratic businesses going while prospecting for newcomers. It wants to populate downtown with fun storefronts. It has a team working off of a master list of desired tenants, boosting Burbank for consideration for popular shops, restaurants and cafes. They represent the city at big shopping and real estate events to stir up interest.“The city wanted an H&M years ago, and now we have an H&M. We wanted a Sephora, and now we have a Sephora,” said Mary Hamzoian, economic development manager. It also convinced Philz Coffee to come to town and now has the biggest IKEA in the country. Downtown L.A.could benefit from Burbank’s approach, said Nella McOsker, president of the Central City Assn. business support group.“Downtown L.A. should be a priority zone where the city could implement a white glove approach to helping retailers,” she said. “Progressive values and economic growth are not competing values”Burbank has a population of about 100,000, which doubles during the workday. It is competing with Glendale, Pasadena and the Studio City neighborhoods of Los Angeles, so the city also makes an effort to keep tenants from leaving by visiting them to see if they’re having any issues. cenes on San Fernando Blvd. late in the afternoon on Saturday. (David Butow/For the Times) Burbank is also trying to build more homes downtown. The city intends to add 10,000 housing units downtown in the years ahead, which will require streamlining the development approval process to eliminate hurdles. First Street Village, a 275-unit apartment complex built in 2023 that has ground-floor retail such as a wine bar, fitness center and pet groomer, got help from the city.The city’s 3-to-1 imbalance of jobs to housing is one of the biggest in the country and a lure for builders, said apartment developer Chris Tourtellotte. In tech-charged parts of the Bay Area, the housing-to-jobs ratio is 2-to-1, and Los Angeles is closer to 1-to-1. “Burbank is severely underserved” with housing, Tourtellote said. His Marina del Rey company LaTerra Development recently completed a 575-unit complex along the 5 Freeway near the Burbank MetroLink station that caters to tenants in the entertainment industry.LaTerra also hopes to break ground this year on an even larger apartment and retail complex near the airport on a site that once held an unofficial Burbank landmark, the retro sci-fi and alien-themed Fry’s Electronics that included a giant flying saucer crashing into the building. The lot on Hollywood Way has been cleared for new development. Potential tenants LaTerra is targeting include pilots, flight attendants and other people who work at the airport. Pedestrians walk past a restaurant with misters on the pedestrian mall on Palm avenue in the downtown Burbank. (David Butow/For the Times) To be sure, not every resident is happy about the development. Burbank locals have resisted growth in the past, said real estate consultant Chris Baer of Avison Young.“There was a lot of NIMBYism,” he said, but “there is a whole new thought process about it now. Both the state of California and the city really wanted to change that dynamic. There are so many jobs in the city but not enough places for people to live.” More locals are willing to accept development, as long as it doesn’t overwhelm the quaintness of the city, apartment developer Tourtellote said. “People are still trying to hold on to that old Burbank charm,” he said. “But at the same time they recognize there’s a need for housing.”Entreprenuer J.C. Reifenberg describes Burbank as “nerdy in a good way,” but is opening his next bar in downtown Burbank in part for the parking. “You kind of get the best a big city has to offer, but it’s on your doorstep, and there’s free parking everywhere,” he said.Reifenberg operates a Star Wars-themed bar in Hollywood and says parking fees in a nearby municipal lot and private parking lots routinely charge as much as $25. Scenes on the pedestrian mall on Palm Avenue and San Fernando Blvd. in downtown Burbank. (David Butow/For the Times) “I’ve seen it impact my business,” he said. “People who come to our trivia nights say they may not be able to afford to come weekly anymore.”Reifenberg has leased space for an additional branch of his Scum & Villany bar and restaurant on Palm Avenue under the AMC Burbank 30, the busiest theater complex in AMC’s chain. He’s paying 40% less rent than he is in Hollywood for a larger space.Scum & Villany is “a comic book shop and sports bar for nerds,” he said, a theme he plans to expand on in Burbank with a community space for meetings because he feels like his people are nearby. Burbank has an independent video game store, a board game store, a vintage toy store, a year-round Halloween store, the Horror Boodega convenience store and two comic book stores, Reifenberg said. “What city on earth can support two comic book stores now?”
