Film Company Focuses on Closed Hospital as Studio Site : Lake View Terrace: Homeowner groups support a feasibility study being done by a film location service.

The head of a Los Angeles film location service said Friday that he is studying the feasibility of turning the defunct Lake View Medical Center into a movie studio.

Scott Osberg, the chief operating officer for Reel to Reel, said his company is studying methods to turn the abandoned hospital--once proposed as a drug treatment center to be named after former First Lady Nancy Reagan--into a “small studio with a campus-type atmosphere.” Such a studio might contain offices, editing and screening rooms and other services, he said.

“We want to see if it makes economic sense to do this,” Osberg said. “I don’t know if it can be done. The economy is not so good right now.”

Since its 1986 bankruptcy, the 14-acre hospital site has been largely vacant, except for a small nursing school and a jobs program. The center drew national attention in the spring of 1988 when it was slated to be turned into a 210-bed drug-treatment center that was to bear Nancy Reagan’s name.

Community opposition caused the Reagans to withdraw support, effectively killing the plan.

Homeowner leaders have tried to find other uses to propose for the facility, but no such plans have been forthcoming, said Richard Weidenwurm, an attorney. Weidenwurm represents the lending institutions that held unpaid construction bonds after the center declared bankruptcy.

Reel to Reel was hired last August by hospital trustees to represent the facility for filming. Osberg said the site was used about 90 days last year to film scenes in various film and television shows.

Currently, he said, “Mister Jones,” a feature film starring Richard Gere, and the television series “Beverly Hills, 90210” are filming at the center. “Terminator 2” and shows such as “Jake and the Fatman” and “Falcon Crest” also have filmed there.

So far, community leaders said they support Reel to Reel’s proposed study.

“The people who live in the immediate area around the hospital have really been through it for the last six years, and they have a real positive feeling with Reel to Reel,” said Eileen Barry of the Lake View Terrace Improvement Assn.

“They’ve been real good neighbors,” Barry said. “They’ve notified all neighbors about any late-night shooting. We’ve also talked to people in the industry, and their reputation is excellent.”

Lewis Snow of the Lake View Terrace Home Owners Assn. said he also does not oppose the proposed studio, as long as all necessary permits and licenses are obtained.

Osberg said he does not know when the company will make a decision about the proposed studio.