Palladium On The Block

According to one developer, it might be time to pave the Hollywood Palladium and put up a parking lot.

Combined Properties Inc. is in the process of buying one of Los Angeles’ storied venues for an estimated $65 million, according to the Los Angeles Times. What will happen to the 66-year-old property is unclear: the real estate firm intends to develop the Palladium’s large parking lot for possible residences, stores and a hotel.

Combined Properties specializes in building neighborhood shopping centers and mixed-use developments, the paper said. Leron Gubler, president of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, said a development would have an easier time getting approval if the Palladium stays put.

“It’s an important landmark and a lot of people would be very strongly opposed to losing it,” Gubler told the paper. “In the interest of moving forward on a quick timetable, it would be a good idea” to save it, he said.

The Palladium launched on Halloween 1940 with Tommy Dorsey (and a singer named Frank Sinatra). Since then, the 4,000-capacity room has hosted everyone from Glenn Miller to The Rolling Stones to Bloc Party.

The Los Angeles Conservancy is reportedly ready to fight for the venue, and Combined Properties exec VP Marianne Lowenthal sounded open to the idea of keeping it.

“We are going to try our hardest to save the Palladium and restore it,” she told the Times.

The firm has the venue in escrow and expects to get the title by the end of summer, the paper said.