500 See Burbank History in the Making : Development: Fireworks helped celebrate the ground breaking for the $250-million Gateway Center.

With fanfare and fireworks, Burbank residents celebrated the city’s future Thursday at the official ground-breaking ceremony for a massive retail-office complex to be built on downtown redevelopment property.

Nearly 500 people, many with cameras around their necks and children by their sides, turned out for the 10 a.m. ceremony at the entrance to the project site at San Fernando and Magnolia boulevards. The celebration was sponsored by the Alexander Haagen Co., developer of the $250-million Burbank Gateway Center.

“I brought my two grandkids because I wanted them to see this historical moment,” said resident Opal Farrow, 59. “This is a big step forward for Burbank.”

Another resident, Dale Kile, 57, said he skipped work to attend the ceremony.

“I think this is going to be a tremendous boon to the town,” Kile said. “It’s going to raise the spirits of the people, give them more pride in their community. And I think that will spill over into the political arena and help the people on the council do a better job.”

The ceremony began with Alexander Haagen and the five City Council members each driving up to a makeshift stage in earthmoving vehicles. The spectacle was followed by a brief speech by Mayor Robert R. Bowne.

“Lord knows we have our share of naysayers and cynics in Burbank,” Bowne said. “But this project will hold up as a triumph of vision, courage and hard work.”

The Burbank Gateway Center will include a three-level shopping mall with four office towers and a hotel. The development is expected to create thousands of jobs and generate about $8 million in annual revenues for the city.

Representatives of the Ikea furniture store as well as Sears and Mervyn’s department stores also spoke at Thursday’s ceremony, which included Dixieland music, soft drinks, fruit juice and cookies.

Not everyone was enthusiastic about the development.

“Instead of getting so excited about Mervyn’s and Sears, why don’t they just admit it’s the best Burbank could do,” one resident said. “We’re getting pretty schlocky stores. I’m not going to shop there.”

After the speeches, the crowd was treated to a brief fireworks display. The highlight of the festivities came when five sky divers leaped out of an airplane 3,000 feet above the crowd.

The sky divers carried gold-painted shovels, which they handed to City Council members moments after touching down near the stage.

“This is a historic moment,” City Manager Robert Ovrom said. “I know that sounds corny, but every now and then something comes along that really affects the community. And this falls into that category.”