With a Flair, TV Academy Breaks Ground

An emcee proclaimed “this is show business, folks” as a tuxedo-clad parachutist swooped onto a North Hollywood construction site Wednesday during ground-breaking for a sprawling office center that will be home to the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

“Since we are in the entertainment business, be it far from us to just shovel dirt,” said Doug Duitsman, the academy’s president.

As a Dixieland band played “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” the parachutist delivered two Emmys to Duitsman. The golden trophies were buried along with other show-business memorabilia in a time capsule at the site.

The ceremony with a touch of Hollywood flair ended more than 7 years of planning, during which there was one nearly crushing setback.

The Academy--a 22-acre center that will include an 11-story office building, a 200-room hotel, 197 apartments, shops and restaurants--is considered the most important project to date in the 10-year-old North Hollywood Redevelopment Zone.

The academy’s success or failure will set the pace for revitalization efforts in the decaying commercial and residential areas around Lankershim Boulevard, community leaders said.

“This is important for the stability it will bring and ripple effect it will have in the community,” said John J. Tuite, administrator of the city’s “This will bring flair and charisma back to North Hollywood.”

Academy Headquarters

The cornerstone of the $100-million development on the northeast corner of Lankershim and Magnolia boulevards will be the headquarters of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, a television Hall of Fame Plaza and a visitors center.

During Wednesday’s ground-breaking ceremony--at which TV pioneer and comedian Sid Caesar joked with a crowd of about 300 people--optimism abounded that the center will be successful in attracting tenants to its 147,900 square feet of office space.

Jim Lowry, president of the Kensley Group of North Hollywood, the project’s developer, predicted that 2 million visitors a year will visit the center.

The Hall of Fame Plaza will feature busts and life-size sculptures of television stars, television memorabilia displays and a wall of television screens featuring video artwork.

The centerpiece of the plaza will be a 27-foot-high Emmy statue and waterfall that Lowry wants to become “the most photographed statue in the nation.”

The Community Redevelopment Agency spent about $13 million to purchase the blighted area, relocate tenants and clear the land.

The developer paid the agency $7.3 million for the property. The CRA financed the land acquisitions with bonds and loans from federal Community Development Block Grant funds.

The project is expected to generate an additional $13.5 million in property tax revenue over 30 years.

In June, however, plans were thrown into disarray when United Artists backed out of an agreement to operate an 8-screen theater at the center. This resulted in a smaller visitors’ plaza area.

For use of the television academy’s name, the developer is giving it 5,000 square feet of office space to house its headquarters. Also, Kensley Group is building a 600-seat theater that will be used primarily for private academy screenings.

Search for Home

“This was a great deal for us because we had been looking for a permanent home for 10 years,” the academy’s Duitsman said.

The risk for the academy is that its reputation would be tarnished if the center could not lease office space or attract patrons.

Duitsman said that the academy is allowed under its contract to move out of the project if the worst happens. “There’s always a risk. . . . But I predict in 10 years this will be a place that people will come to from all over.”