Just over one year after purchasing the Panorama Mall, Primestor Development has filed expansion plans for the shopping center at Van Nuys and Roscoe Boulevards.

According to a case filing with the Department of City Planning, the proposed development calls for building 266,000 square feet new new programmed space on the parking lot along adjacent to the mall.  The project woud include 130,000 square feet of shops and restaurants, a 2,000-seat theater, a 100-to-120-room hotel, as well as landscaped plazas and open space throughout the 17-acre property.

The project is likely being submitted now to preempt Measure S, the March ballot measure that would restrict the City of Los Angeles' ability to grant zone changes and general plan amendments to individual property owners.

Panorama City, a largely working class community in the north San Fernando Valley, is slated for a rebound as a small but significant slate of commercial developments take fold along the Van Nuys corridor.

Across the street, a $150-million development with 423 apartments and 200,000 square feet of commercial space is planned for the site of a long-vacant Montgomery Ward.

One block south, developer Izek Shomof is rehabbing a vacant 13-story office building into apartments.