NBC Universal unveils ambitious building plan for Universal City
By GARY GENTILE
AP
UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. (AP) - Studio owner NBC Universal unveiled an ambitious plan to revamp its 390-acre Universal City complex that includes movie sets, office space and a theme park.
The 25-year master plan outlined Wednesday envisions an 80,000-square-foot expansion of the theme park, new high-tech soundstages and a residential development called "Universal Village."
The studio has been hampered in recent years by complex zoning and environmental regulations from building new rides at the park or developing its vast back lot. A succession of corporate owners with conflicting business plans also stunted the studio's growth.
Universal City, in the Hollywood Hills overlooking the San Fernando Valley, was founded in 1915 by Carl Laemmle, the founder of Universal Studios.
The then-250-acre ranch was used to make silent movies. Laemmle created the first studio tour, which consisted in its earliest days of people standing on a platform or on bleachers while filming took place below.
A poster made to commemorate the opening of Universal City proclaims it, "The strangest place on earth - an entire city built and used exclusively for the making of moving pictures."
The plot expanded over the decades to include the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park and a shopping and retail area called CityWalk.
Universal was purchased in 2004 by NBC, a unit of General Electric Co. The company soon began developing a master plan for the entire parcel, consulting nearby homeowners as well as Los Angeles and county officials.
The new plan calls for selling off 124 acres of mostly undeveloped land to a builder for a new residential community. Some movie sets and soundstages would be moved while new state-of-the art facilities would be built.
The proposal would especially benefit the theme park, which would be able to more easily add rides and attractions to help it compete with nearby Disneyland, owned by The Walt Disney Co., and Six Flags Magic Mountain, part of Six Flags Inc. Under current regulations, old rides have to be scrapped to make way for new ones.
Any construction is at least two to three years away as the company secures the permits and approvals needed for the entire project.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
http://money.aol.com/news/articles/_a/nbc-universal-unveils-ambitious-building/n20061207072309990006
Thoughts anyone? With this and the new Garden City (or whatever) park? Is Disneyland in trouble?
By GARY GENTILE
AP
UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. (AP) - Studio owner NBC Universal unveiled an ambitious plan to revamp its 390-acre Universal City complex that includes movie sets, office space and a theme park.
The 25-year master plan outlined Wednesday envisions an 80,000-square-foot expansion of the theme park, new high-tech soundstages and a residential development called "Universal Village."
The studio has been hampered in recent years by complex zoning and environmental regulations from building new rides at the park or developing its vast back lot. A succession of corporate owners with conflicting business plans also stunted the studio's growth.
Universal City, in the Hollywood Hills overlooking the San Fernando Valley, was founded in 1915 by Carl Laemmle, the founder of Universal Studios.
The then-250-acre ranch was used to make silent movies. Laemmle created the first studio tour, which consisted in its earliest days of people standing on a platform or on bleachers while filming took place below.
A poster made to commemorate the opening of Universal City proclaims it, "The strangest place on earth - an entire city built and used exclusively for the making of moving pictures."
The plot expanded over the decades to include the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park and a shopping and retail area called CityWalk.
Universal was purchased in 2004 by NBC, a unit of General Electric Co. The company soon began developing a master plan for the entire parcel, consulting nearby homeowners as well as Los Angeles and county officials.
The new plan calls for selling off 124 acres of mostly undeveloped land to a builder for a new residential community. Some movie sets and soundstages would be moved while new state-of-the art facilities would be built.
The proposal would especially benefit the theme park, which would be able to more easily add rides and attractions to help it compete with nearby Disneyland, owned by The Walt Disney Co., and Six Flags Magic Mountain, part of Six Flags Inc. Under current regulations, old rides have to be scrapped to make way for new ones.
Any construction is at least two to three years away as the company secures the permits and approvals needed for the entire project.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
http://money.aol.com/news/articles/_a/nbc-universal-unveils-ambitious-building/n20061207072309990006
Thoughts anyone? With this and the new Garden City (or whatever) park? Is Disneyland in trouble?