City Panel Urges Sale of Land for DreamWorks Operation
Plans to build an animation studio in Glendale took another step toward becoming a reality Monday when a Los Angeles City Council committee recommended the sale of city property to DreamWorks SKG for the project.
The council’s Commerce, Energy and Natural Resources Committee recommended accepting $5.13 million for 12 acres of property that the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power owns at 1000 Flower St.
The land was to be used for a water treatment plant planned under the federal Superfund program. The plant will be relocated to a site about 500 yards away at a cost of $2.8 million to Glendale’s Redevelopment Agency.
“This is a much more productive use of this property,” said Councilwoman Ruth Galanter, chairwoman of the committee.
DreamWorks, the studio founded last year by entertainment giants Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen, plans to house its animation division in a 500,000-square-foot office building, with a 1,000-space parking structure and an employee recreation area on the site.
The water treatment plant was proposed to clean up contaminated underground water supplies at the site, using old DWP wells to extract tainted water. But city officials say the ground water will be extracted and cleaned using the proposed site nearby.
In addition to the contaminated water, a city report said a building on the city property contains asbestos.
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