City Broadens Plan to Lure DreamWorks

DreamWorks SKG may have dropped plans to build a new film studio, but that didn’t stop Los Angeles City Council members Tuesday from bickering over where it should be built if the firm eventually has a change of heart.

A motion to offer DreamWorks a package of financial incentives to build a movie studio in North Hollywood was broadened Tuesday to include a dozen other sites, including Northridge, Wilmington and East Los Angeles.

Councilmen Joel Wachs and John Ferraro, who each represent portions of North Hollywood, opposed offering all the sites to DreamWorks at once, saying it would dilute their proposal.

“We’ll broaden this to include every inch of the city of Los Angeles,” Ferraro suggested sarcastically.

In the end, Ferraro and Wachs voted for a compromise under which the city will pursue the North Hollywood plan now but consider other sites in the future.

“You simply can’t look at every site in the city before you go ahead with one, or you’ll end up with nothing,” Wachs said.

The council voted unanimously to form a negotiating team of top city administrators to draft a package of tax breaks, government grants and other incentives to present to executives of the company founded by media giants Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen.

The 30-acre site in North Hollywood is next to a subway station scheduled to open next year, and is within a redevelopment project area that can offer subsidies.

The Community Redevelopment Agency is already negotiating with developer J. Allen Radford to build a film studio and office complex, and Wachs said DreamWorks could be part of that development.

Chief Legislative Analyst Ron Deaton and Acting City Administrative Officer Paul Cauley said they will draft a proposal that includes tax breaks previously offered to DreamWorks to build a studio in Playa Vista.

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Although the city offered $35 million in tax credits for the Playa Vista project, DreamWorks concluded July 1 that it did not make sense financially to build a studio from the ground up. The project was also plagued by infighting among the developers of the larger Playa Vista commercial and residential project and lawsuits by environmentalists claiming the project would damage area wetlands.

Instead, the company said it may expand its existing facilities, including office space on the Universal City lot and an animation studio in Glendale, said Andy Spahn, the head of DreamWorks corporate affairs.

Spahn said the company has no current plans to build a new, large film studio away from its existing facilities.

But he added: “We’re certainly willing to sit down with Los Angeles city officials and hear what they have to say.”

Wachs and Ferraro introduced the motion on the North Hollywood site last week. On Tuesday, other council members said they have properties in their districts that should also be considered.

Councilman Hal Bernson said the campus of Cal State Northridge should be considered because it has a strong theater arts department and is on state land with possible state financial incentives. And Councilman Mike Hernandez asked that any proposal include the dozen underutilized industrial and commercial sites targeted for renewal by the city’s Genesis L.A. program, which seeks to match public and private resources to revitalize properties.

Those properties include the Taylor Yard--a former railroad property in northeast Los Angeles--as well as Santa Barbara Plaza, the Lancer Industrial Park, and an Eastside site formerly proposed for a prison.

Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg said the city should act like any good real estate agent and offer DreamWorks more than one option, although she was skeptical that any of the proposals would draw the interest of the entertainment company.

“I think this is a dream, working,” Goldberg said. “The three principals made very clear they are no longer interested--period.”

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Councilman Mike Feuer offered the compromise under which North Hollywood would be pursued first, saying to broaden the options substantially could make it harder to provide an effective proposal to DreamWorks.

“We could be dissipating a focus that’s really important to be riveted in the North Hollywood area,” Feuer said.

“I don’t want to chase sites forever and not have any site,” Wachs told his colleagues. “This North Hollywood site has unique qualities that make it possible to have a perfect match.”