Lego to Build Theme Park in Carlsbad; O.C. to Benefit

SAN DIEGO —  Ending a nine-month competition between the governors of California and Virginia, the Danish toy maker Lego has decided to build a 40-acre, $100-million theme park in suburban Carlsbad rather than Prince William County, Va.

At the request of Lego, which has guarded the selection process like a military secret, California state and local officials were asked to refrain from publicly rejoicing over the selection until a formal announcement is made at a news conference this morning.

“We’re going to duck today, but we’ll stand up tall on Friday,” Carlsbad City Manager Ray Patchett said.

The Lego Family Park would create 650 part-time and full-time jobs, draw 1.8-million visitors annually, provide $2 million in taxes, and pump $76 million a year into the local economy, Lego officials estimate.

It may even provide a small boost for South Orange County, which has extensive beach resorts and roadside lodging about 30 miles miles north of Carlsbad.

“Anything that brings a million people to Southern California has got to be good for the tourism and visitor business along (Interstate) 5,” said Dick Whitton, president of the San Clemente Chamber of Commerce.

Penny Elia, spokeswoman for the Dana Point Resort, said a new Lego park would be a “fabulous” addition that “would add to the destination appeal” of the South Orange-North San Diego County area.

In addition to the jobs and tourist revenue promised by the Lego park, California’s victory over Virginia is a psychological boost to a state that has lost tens of thousands of jobs to other areas in recent years and has yet to begin sharing in the nation’s economic recovery.

Lego’s decision is the second major piece of good economic news for California since the Legislature enacted a series of reforms aimed at improving the business climate and forestalling the exodus of companies and jobs.

Earlier this month, semiconductor giant Intel Corp. announced plans to more than double the scope of an expansion at its research and development complex in Folsom, raising the number of jobs from 750 to 1,750. It said tax relief had made California more competitive.

“To the degree there is a psychological component to a recovery, announcements like Intel and Lego become part of the momentum,” an ecstatic state official said.

Despite the company’s announcement, the Lego proposal faces a grueling yearlong review before the Carlsbad City Council votes on the proposal. A group of Carlsbad homeowners called Neighbors Against the Invasion of Lego (NAIL) says it will fight the plan and try to force a public vote on it.

Opponents contend that the Lego park will disturb the tranquillity of their upper-middle-class, seaside suburb 35 miles north of San Diego. The group warns of the “Disneylandization” of Carlsbad, with increased traffic, litter and a proliferation of cheap motels and fast-food restaurants.

“An amusement park always changes the character of a community, and not for the better,” said NAIL leader Geoff Bell, a dentist. “If I wanted to live in Anaheim, I’d move to Anaheim.”

The park, which Lego hopes to open by 1999, would make attractions from the tiny plastic building blocks that are the company’s main product. It would be geared for children under 13, with none of the high-speed, thrill-and-chill rides or rock concerts common to other amusement parks.

Using Disneyland as a comparison, Lego boosters in Carlsbad have tried to reassure doubters that the Lego park will be more like It’s a Small World than Space Mountain.

The park would be Lego’s first in the United States. The company has run a 25-acre park in Billund, Denmark, since 1968. The park uses 42 million tiny plastic Lego bricks in an array of buildings, animals and monuments, including replicas of the U.S. Capitol, the Parthenon, Mt. Rushmore, the Statue of Liberty and Chief Sitting Bull.

In February, Lego announced that it had narrowed the list of prospective park sites to Carlsbad and Prince William County, 30 miles south of Washington.

With the governors taking the lead, the two competing states offered inducements such as tax breaks and new roads and overpasses. The value of the Virginia package was estimated at $3.5 million; the incentive package offered by Carlsbad and California has never been made public, which the opponent group has criticized.

Beyond specific incentives, California’s success was aided by a legislative change in the state’s controversial unitary tax on foreign-owned corporations such as Lego.

The Carlsbad site is east of Interstate 5 and north of the road leading to the Palomar Airport. For generations, the cultivation of flowers and tomatoes has been the area’s economic mainstay.

A Lego park is under construction outside London, with completion set for 1996. Lego has said it would like to build a park in southern Europe after opening an American park.

The Lego park is part of a planned 100-acre Carlsbad Ranch project, which would include a biotechnology business park and a gemology institute.

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Times staff writers Chris Kraul and Chris Woodyard contributed to this report.