Burbank Starts New Drive to Lure Fox : Entertainment: The city notes the firm’s difficulty expanding in L.A. A studio official says he is ‘ready to talk to them.’

Burbank city officials began a new campaign Friday to woo Fox Studios to their city after hearing that studio executives were frustrated with plans to expand their West Los Angeles headquarters.

The city’s desire to lure Fox is not new--two years ago, Fox executives toured a site in Burbank, but put off plans to move, instead focusing on an attempt to expand their existing facility.

Recently, however, Burbank City Manager Robert Ovrom noticed media reports of Fox’s difficulties getting permission to expand its studios at Pico Boulevard and Motor Avenue.

So Ovrom faxed Fox executives a series of letters Friday extolling the city “as a great place for expansion.” Disney, Warner Bros. and NBC are already in Burbank, as well as many production companies, casting agencies and entertainment-related businesses.

“Sure you have things in Hollywood, West L.A. and Culver City,” Ovrom said. “But most of the real industry is here.”

David Handelman, Fox senior vice president, said the company would be interested.

“We’re all ears,” he said. “We haven’t reviewed Burbank’s proposal, but we’re ready to talk to them. . . . We know they’re serious players.”

The studio has grown frustrated in its efforts to win approval from the city of Los Angeles to expand its Pico Boulevard facility, Handelman said. The company wants to move two other operations to the Pico Boulevard site--its corporate headquarters in Century City and KTTV television station in Hollywood.

Handelman said Fox would also like to expand its outdated studios, where television shows such as “The Simpsons” and “In Living Color” are produced.

“We would very much like to stay here,” Handelman said. “We’re willing to maintain our existing buildings. Even after we expand, this would still be a very low-rise campus.”

Fox grew rapidly in the 1980s after it was purchased by Rupert Murdoch, and it has established itself as a fourth TV network. This fall, it began offering five nights of prime-time programming a week.

Handelman said the studios spent nearly $2 billion last year in salaries and in payments to vendors. Fox employs about 2,200 people and will increase its staff to 4,700 if it expands or moves to a larger location, Handelman said.

Los Angeles City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky--whose district includes the West Los Angeles neighborhood where Fox is located--supports expanding the Pico Boulevard site. He conceded that the permit approval process in Los Angeles is lengthy, but said the city is committed to keeping the entertainment company.

“I would be truly shocked if they took the Burbank offer seriously,” Yaroslavsky said. “West L.A. is a much better place than Burbank. . . . I fully expect that we can approve the zoning application and do it in a way that fully respects the desires of Fox’s neighbors.”

Burbank’s offer comes after a tour by Fox executives of several sites in the Santa Clarita Valley, Handelman said.

He declined to give locations. But Newhall Land & Farming Co. officials said Friday that they had recently shown Fox executives sites in the Valencia Industrial Center and the Valencia Commerce Center.

Handelman said there would be some advantages to moving to Valencia.

But he added that moving to such a remote spot would cause some disruption for Fox employees and subcontractors, 50% of whom live on the Westside. He said about 75% of Fox employees live within 10 miles of the Pico Boulevard site.

Ovrom pointed out that Burbank would not present that problem. The city is less than 20 miles from West Los Angeles.

Ovrom said a possible site would be a parcel at Burbank Boulevard and the Golden State Freeway that became available this year when the Zero Corp. left the state for Utah. The site is about a five-minute drive from other studios in Burbank’s Media District.

Ovrom also said the city would expedite the permit process as it has for Disney and Warner Bros.

“We can have them go through the entire approval process in 10 months,” Ovrom said.

BURBANK ARENA SITES: B3