Lease gets proposed movie studio rolling

Jeffrey Libby

Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2002 | 9:53 a.m.

A proposed $44 million movie studio cleared a major hurdle Tuesday when the Boulder City Council approved of a 40-year lease of a World War II-era hangar on city-owned land.

Before taking the final plunge, council members stressed the variety of protections in the lease to bail out the city if film producer Anna Marie Davis doesn't produce.

Only Councilwoman Andrea Anderson voted against the $59,400 annual lease, still unconvinced that Davis will build the studio and media park she first proposed for the city's redevelopment area in October 2000.

After the vote Anderson told Davis, "I wish you luck. I hope I'm wrong."

Davis was still grinning after a walk down the council chambers aisle, hugging every supporter who spoke in favor of the project, from a Boulder City High School student majoring in broadcast journalism to a longtime Nevada feature filmmaker, Jerry Schafer.

Clutching the lease paperwork in her hands, Davis said, "This is what we needed. Now I can talk to the people I've been talking to and say, 'OK, let's do it.' "

Davis says the studio -- initially planned in a hangar on 3 acres between Nevada Highway and the Boulder City Airport -- will bring good-paying career jobs to Boulder City, business to downtown and money to the city redevelopment area. By Nov. 1 Davis must deliver a check for $117,360 in back rent. She has 60 days from Tuesday's vote to submit a concept plan. She then has 120 days to submit construction plans for a building permit to renovate the hangar. She's planning to secure $1.5 million in financing to cover those costs.

The city will pay $3.3 million through redevelopment bonds to build infrastructure to the studio. Increases in the value of the improved land should eventually pay back the city investment, City Manager John Sullard said.

If Davis' concept or building plans don't meet city standards, the city can void the lease agreement, Mayor Bob Ferraro and other council members said.

"We didn't have those benchmarks before. It was all open," Ferraro said.

But with those protections, as well as promises to help Boulder City kids find career jobs, and Davis' avowal that no pornographic movies would be produced at the studio, Ferraro said he decided he could support the project.

Zak Kearns, one of several local high school students who spoke in favor of the project, said, "After we graduate, our searches for suitable careers will likely lead us elsewhere." But a movie studio would keep him in Boulder City, he said.

Schafer, who in 1997 won recognition from Gov. Kenny Guinn for bringing $30 million of movie production to Las Vegas, said he will locate at the studio to produce a three-year, $42 million video project for an encyclopedia publisher.

Not everyone spoke in favor of the project. Resident Frank Nicholls said that rather than gamble on the movie studio, the city ought to just sell the land to a competing suitor.

But the City Council, at least for now, is going Hollywood.