Warner Bros. to Lease New Building
An affiliate of Time Warner Inc. agreed to lease an office building under construction in Burbank in a 15-year deal valued at more than $100 million, the Los Angeles Times reported. Warner Bros. Entertainment will move out of 150,000 square feet of space that it leases in Glendale and owns at its crowded Burbank studio into the second phase of the Pinnacle, a 235,000-square-foot project being built at 3300 W. Olive Ave. Construction is expected to be completed by the end of the year. The builder, with financing from Stockbridge Capital Partners, started the second phase without a lessee waiting in the wings, a rarity in L.A. County since the early 1990s, when demand for office space collapsed.
DWP Issues Strike Threat
Raising the stakes in the debate over a deal that would give 8,000 DWP workers pay hikes as high as 30 percent, the union leader who negotiated the deal threatened to call a strike if the City Council tries to block formal approval of the contract, the Daily News of Los Angeles reported. Union chief Brian D’Arcy said the Department of Water and Power employees represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 18, are willing to give the mayor and a new DWP board time to understand the issues, but they won’t have unlimited patience. The move came as Councilman Tony Cardenas, who chairs the council’s committee overseeing the DWP, sought the city attorney’s opinion on whether the council could modify the deal.
Charges to Stand Against Prominent L.A. Attorney
Money-laundering charges can stand against an L.A. attorney accused of disguising the source of campaign contributions to Mayor James Hahn, the state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday. Pierce O’Donnell is accused of reimbursing seven friends and business associates for $25,500 they donated to Hahn’s successful 2001 mayoral campaign. O’Donnell had argued that the city’s two-year statute of limitations should apply, but the court concurred with previous rulings that the four-year state statute of limitations was appropriate, the Daily News of Los Angeles reported. Charges against six of O’Donnell’s co-defendants have been dismissed. His personal trainer remains a defendant in the case. Hahn has denied knowing the source of the donations.
Hollywood, Radio Finally Part Waves
With the planned flip of a switch at 11:05 p.m. Friday, another piece of Hollywood’s golden age will disappear. Microphones at the last radio station in Hollywood will go dead as announcers complete their final on-air shift at the Columbia Square broadcast center. The relocation of L.A.’s first radio station, KNX-AM (1070), to new studios in the Miracle Mile area will end an 85-year tradition of radio broadcasting in Hollywood. Over the years, Hollywood has been home to 68 radio stations and nine television stations. In the last few years, five TV stations have left, with two more scheduled for next year, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Troubled L.A. Campus May Be Taken Over
A successful Los Angeles charter schools operator is moving to take over troubled Jefferson High School and convert it into several smaller campuses with higher-paid teachers and a more rigorous educational program, the Los Angeles Times reported. The proposal by Steve Barr, founder of Green Dot Public Schools, would offer an aggressive alternative to improving the city’s struggling high schools and could threaten the school district’s centralized power structure and the teachers union. Barr’s plan faces significant hurdles, including a resistant school board and teachers union. If turned down, Barr said, he was prepared to appeal to the state Board of Education.
Judge Clears Actor Beatty to Sue Over ‘Dick Tracy’
A federal judge has ruled that actor Warren Beatty, who starred in and directed the 1990 movie “Dick Tracy,” can proceed with a lawsuit he filed in May against a unit of Tribune Co. over rights to the comic book detective. U.S. District Judge Dean Pregerson denied Tribune Media Services Inc.’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit because the case involves issues of contract interpretation that can’t be determined at this stage of the proceedings, according to a ruling filed Wednesday in the federal court in L.A. Tribune in 1985 assigned Beatty the rights to Dick Tracy. Beatty claims that the company didn’t follow the contract’s procedure to recapture the rights, and is seeking a ruling to control the rights and $30 million in damages.
