Hall of Fame Scouting New Locations
Plans to create a Motion Picture Hall of Fame at Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street have fallen through, the landlord announced Tuesday, but backers of the proposed attraction haven’t given up.
The planned $25-million Hall of Fame was announced with much fanfare last year. It was to be a three-story, 45,000-square-foot attraction with halls commemorating comedy, horror and science fiction, and include interactive rotating and permanent exhibits, a restaurant and a theater. Ten new inductees would be nominated each year.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. June 6, 2003 For The Record
Los Angeles Times Friday June 06, 2003 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 66 words Type of Material: Correction
Movie museum -- A May 28 article in the Business section on the proposed Motion Picture Hall of Fame incorrectly stated that backers had hoped to open the hall in a building at Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street that opened more than 75 years ago as a Broadway department store. The building opened in 1927 as a Dyas department store and later became a Broadway store.
A cash crunch apparently derailed the project, at least for the time being. An executive of Meringoff Equities, owner of the building at 6300 Hollywood Blvd., said the hall’s lease has been terminated.
“They were unable to secure the funding and move forward with their plans,” said Rob Langer, managing partner of Meringoff Equities, which owns about 600,000 square feet of office space in Hollywood. “The concept is good. We really wanted this thing to happen.”
Robert Alexander, chief executive of the Motion Picture Hall of Fame, said backers were “unable to reach a satisfactory lease agreement with Meringoff” and would look for another site on Hollywood Boulevard, perhaps one that it can buy.
Design concepts for the Hall of Fame were created by Troxtel Design of La Crescenta. President John Troxtel said Tuesday that his firm no longer is connected with the project.
The space sought by the Hall of Fame was a Broadway department store when the building opened more than 75 years ago. Several entertainment and media tenants occupy the office floors upstairs including Bug Music, Delos Records and Gigawatt Studios.
Several large retail tenants were interested in the ground-floor space, which has 22-foot-high display windows, before the tentative deal was struck, Langer said. “I’m going to get it leased,” he said. “How many Hollywood and Vines are there?”
