Paramount Studios announced today that it hopes to update the Paramount Pictures lot that sits just north of the Larchmont area, its south-west corner at Melrose and Van Ness. The $700 million, two-decades-in-the-making, upgrade will bring production facilities up to date, clean up the warren of offices scattered throughout the lot, and would eventually accomodate some 5,500 employees on the 56 acre lot.   The Studio said it will soon be taking its plans to City officials and local residential groups (a Paramount  rep has already made plans to visit my neighborhood association.)
One can see the value of improving the lot and keeping more Hollywood work here at home in the heart of LA, but one can also just imagine what’s in store: long lines of cement mixing trucks queued up on Beverly or Melrose; much more construction traffic cutting through our neighborhoods; bigger bolder buildings rising above homes in the area. The benefits and costs will no doubt be debated by local Larchmontians.
Read more and see some renderings in the LA TIMESÂ today.
Or check out the Hollywood Reporter piece the $700 MILLION MAKEOVER.
