Academy’s Movie Museum Grows Closer With Hollywood Parcel Purchase

0

And the award for the first parcel of land to be purchased by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences for its planned Hollywood movie museum goes to a 77,000-square-foot site on Homewood Avenue.


The parcel, now home to the post-production facility the Post Group, is the largest of five parcels on the square block the Academy has spotlighted for the project. The partnership On-Line Group has owned the land since 1977.


Plans for the $200 million museum call for a 75,000-square-foot-facility dedicated to American cinema history, with at least one theater and rotating exhibits, according to Academy spokesman John Pavlick. Groundbreaking is slated for 2008.


The Academy can close the sale “at any time,” according to Clair Higgins, one of the On-Line Group property owners. Once the sale is complete, the Post Group will move its operations to another site. Higgins declined to specify the negotiated sale price of the land, but called it “fair market value.”


Comparable area property sales prices are approximately $300 per square foot, based on recent real estate transactions.


“I would call us the bell cow (on the block),” Higgins said. “Anything the Academy does is wonderful, and the museum is going to be good for everybody, particularly in this area.”


Other parcels on the block that the Academy intends to acquire include a KFC restaurant and a Big Lots discount retail store along Vine Street, Funk Brothers auto repair shop on Ivar Street and an 18,000-square-foot space occupied by Golden Bridge Yoga on DeLongpre Avenue.


Peter Funk, owner of Funk Brothers, said he found the Academy’s first offer on his property far too low, but said he was willing to negotiate.


“I have had my business here for 35 years, and I will lose a lot of customers,” Funk said. “The offer was so low, they did not take into account the value of a business.”

No posts to display