–

Jim Thomas, chairman and chief executive of Thomas Properties Group Inc., is courting celebrity chefs from the Bay Area, New York and Las Vegas as part of his effort to open three high-end restaurants in City National Plaza, formerly Arco Plaza.

He’s taken a distinctly personal interest in the restaurants going so far as to interview some of the chefs themselves. “We are talking to the chefs and having them cook for us, and going over details of the restaurants,” he said.

The first restaurant will be a high-end steakhouse expected to open within the next six months. He also expects to put at least one restaurant in the plaza’s spacious lobby.

Thomas gave credit to Chef Joachim Splichal of Patina Group for helping create a restaurant resurgence downtown with the opening of Nick & Stef’s Steakhouse.

–

Los Angeles Times Publisher and Chief Executive Jeff Johnson plans to spend more time meeting with local business and community leaders, part of a new effort among Times executives to make readers “feel like stakeholders.”

Johnson recently met with the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and is slated to speak before Town Hall Los Angeles and a bunch of other spots around town. That’s quite a different strategy from his predecessor John Puerner, who rarely appeared in public.

“We’re really trying to step it up and connect with the community at all different levels,” said Johnson, who has been in Los Angeles for five years. “A newspaper is as successful as how well it connects.”

–

Ozzy Osbourne and his wife Sharon Osbourne have entered settlement talks with a Web-based entertainment company, Threshold.tv Inc., which claimed that the Osbournes signed an agreement in 2000 in which they discussed the idea for a reality show based on their life.

The Osbournes ultimately struck a deal with MTV for their own reality show that aired in 2002 and pulled in the highest ratings in MTV’s history. Threshold claims that one of its executives suggested placing cameras in the Osbourne household for a “live action family based TV show.”

*The Inside Track column will be available in the Oct. 17 edition of the Business Journal.