LONG BEACH - Plans to develop movie studios at the former Boeing 717 manufacturing facility in East Long Beach will move forward without delay despite a "technical snag" in the deal to close escrow, studio officials said Monday.
Long Beach Studios Chairman Jack O'Halloran said that the snag - the absence of an appraisal required by the lender - will be resolved as early as March 23.
"We have not gotten any less aggressive than where we were," said O'Halloran, who thought the appraisal would have been done at the beginning of the month. "We just need the appraisal, which we'll have. They walked the land today, so we should have it by the 23rd, then we'll come right back in and finish this thing."
Long Beach Studios CEO Jay Samit cited the economy as a factor for the delay.
The upheaval in the real estate market has affected how cautious appraisers are with their valuations.
"With the whole equity crisis and the crazy mortgages of a few years ago, appraisers do everything by the book, which means the stuff takes longer than it used to," Samit said.
Boeing had considered many uses for the property since it closed down operations of the 717 jet in May 2006, including entertainment production for movie studios, storage for electronic servers, indoor recreation or indoor storage for RVs and trailers.
Long Beach Studios officials announced in September that they had purchased the 77-acre property at East Conant Street and Lakewood Boulevard for an independent film production facility.
The $500 million project, to be completed in 2010, would feature state-of-the-art soundstages, including an underwater stage and a motion-capture stage, sets that mimic a range of locations from European streets to urban streets and suburban cul-de-sacs, as well as a private hotel and bungalows to host cast and crew members.
The property had been in escrow, but after getting an extension, "the deadline came and went," said Boeing Co. spokesman Glen Golightly.
"There's a lot that goes into making a deal to buy a property and especially something as huge as 717 commercial property," Golightly said. "It just didn't come together and we're still talking to them."
Meanwhile, Boeing is putting the property back on the market - a move that opens it up to other potential buyers.
"We felt we had to put the property back on the market because we have a responsibility to sell the property and get some jobs into Long Beach," Golightly said.
"We've been working with them for a long time and it's been great working with them, but bottom line is we want to sell the property and it's them or somebody else."
Golightly said there could be an interim use for the property, such as RV parking and storage for electronic servers.
Still, Long Beach Studio officials seemed confident that the 717 facility will be home to making movies.
"We have some major productions eagerly waiting to start, and Boeing's been a good partner throughout this whole process," said Samit.
"It's going to be so good for the city of Long Beach," O'Halloran said. "It's going to be great. We just had a glitch. It's very tough in this day and age, especially in the last four months.
"But we have an aggressive lender. Everything's in place. Everything's there. We just need the appraisal."
No comments:
Post a Comment