Downey city council and residents of Downey were updated on the progress of the Downey Landing, Downey Studios and Kaiser Permanente new medical office/hospital at a special session before a regular council meeting, held Feb. 22.
The three developers of the site said everything is well at the site except for the rain over the past couple weeks. The rain caused some delay in construction at the site, but all three projects are well underway.
Downey Landing will be the major retail area and restaurants which council, along with residents, said the city is in need of.
The site is expecting to have restaurants such as Elephant Bar and Restaurant and Chili’s. Also stores such as Best Buy, Ross Dress for Less, PetsMart, and Bed Bath and Beyond, Michael’s, Staples and Bally’s fitness are all slated to be part of the new Downey Landing development of the former NASA/Boeing property.
Doug Gray, representing Downey Landing site, is hoping that some of the major stores and restaurants will be open by Christmas.
Gray also commented that the developers lost Kohl’s and Linens and Things as a part of the retail site and also looking at getting a shoe tenant and having some smaller shops.
He said, “We are confident that we will develop what Downey wants and we are trying to build as fast as we can, also hoping for drier weather.”
The council was shown sketches of the some of the storefronts and restaurants
Industrial Realty Group, representing Downey Studios, also presented a good report on their restoration progress and development of property.
Stewart Lichter, representative, said things appeared to be good with the power being installed in the back lot and filming continuing on several major motion pictures and about to begin on two TV pilots.
Also, TV show 24 will be filming on the lot soon. It is the developers’ hopes to attract more TV series and it is said that if they (the studio) creates the space, the industry will come.
Also, the Studio has built the world’s largest water tank inside the largest sound stage on the lot where Lemony Snicket was filmed.
Lichter said that with this tank in Southern California they hope it will keep a lot of major water films in the U.S. and not go abroad to film.
Downey Studios will be host to wardrobe, dressing rooms, postproduction and more.
He also showed the council the murals being painted on the walls of Downey Studios and are making room for exterior sets.
There is hope that there will be three restaurants in and around Downey Studios. The developers have three restaurants interested and one has a proposal, though at this time, they are waiting until the project gets a little further along.
There is also talk about an inside restaurant with access to see the activities on the lot through windows without access to the lot itself.
Meredith Perkins, mayor pro tem, said, “That he would like to see Governer Arnold Schwarzenegger come down and be invited to take a personal tour of Downey Studios.”
The governor has made keeping filmmakers in Southern California a part of his economic recovery package.
A representative from Kaiser Permanente spoke to the council about the hospital complex that takes up 30 acres of the former NASA/Boeing property. There will be three structures on the site, two medical buildings and one hospital; the expected completion date is 2008 for the Kaiser site.
He also said that over 150 people have been working on the first medical building. It is the developers’ hopes to break ground in April of this year on the hospital portion of the complex. It will take about 44 months to complete the hospital.
Charles Vose, who is the city’s attorney, also was present as the Economic Director; he said, it is the city’s hope that the former NASA/Boeing site will provide countless numbers of jobs in all three projects and little ones in the works, such as the space museum and park.
