More Pieces Falling Into Place for Downtown Revitalization

The Emmys have won a supporting role in Anschutz Entertainment Group’s efforts to attract public financing for part of its planned $1-billion hotel, retail and entertainment complex near Staples Center.

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced Wednesday that it has signed a letter of intent to switch its signature event, TV’s Emmy Awards, to a 7,000-seat theater slated to be at the center of the Anschutz complex.

But the academy also said that before it moves the Emmys, the downtown Los Angeles site must include a planned 1,200-room hotel.

Should everything fall into place, the complex could be ready for the red carpet treatment in time for the 2006 Emmy telecast.

“If they build it, we will come,” said Academy Chairman Bryce Zabel.

But that’s a big if.

So far, key city officials haven’t indicated that they are willing to provide the public funds that Anschutz Entertainment Group says it needs to move ahead with the project.

Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn, for one, opposes the use of tax dollars for any part of the complex, including the proposed hotel, according to his spokeswoman.

AEG executives say they plan to use private financing to build the $65-million theater. However, they are seeking some combination of public funds to build the 45-story hotel, at a cost of $300 million to $400 million. And, they say, they cannot move forward with their plans for the entire project until the hotel financing gets resolved.

Academy executives also say that if the hotel -- complete with banquet halls -- is not built, the Emmys probably will stay at their longtime home at the Shrine Auditorium.

“Our hope is that we can clear the last hurdle on the hotel and move forward with the project,” said Tim Lieweke, AEG president. He said that signing up a glitzy anchor tenant such as the Emmys should help further his firm’s efforts.

“The Emmys are a very big chip -- we’re excited about them,” Lieweke said. “All of the dominoes are coming together, and the last step will be the hotel.”

But clouding the picture is a lawsuit filed in June by Los Angeles County. It seeks to stop the city’s downtown redevelopment plan, alleging it would illegally deprive the county of $278 million in taxes.

The tentative agreement to move the Emmys, approved by the academy board of governors last week, stipulates that the award show would be the theater’s marquee event. The pact spelled out that the Grammys and the Oscars can’t be held on the same stage.

That’s acceptable to AEG because the company, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz’s Anschutz Corp., also operates the Kodak Theatre, the Oscars’ new home on Hollywood Boulevard.

It likewise owns Staples Center, which hosted the Grammy Awards in February. The company is trying to lure the Grammys, which will be held next year in New York, back to Staples Center.

The television academy can back out of the tentative agreement until the end of 2003 if the organization concludes that a hotel will not be built.

The contract would cover 15 years, with a 10-year additional option that the academy could exercise.

The agreement also calls for an area suitable for red carpet facilities, bleachers for fans and adjacent parking for limos. AEG must consult the academy about any corporate name that would festoon the facility. Fast-food restaurants, alcohol and tobacco would be prohibited.

The accord also calls for both sides to explore an Emmy-themed museum for the entertainment plaza.

The academy would pay an annual fee for use of the theater commensurate with what television networks now pay to rent the Shrine Auditorium for the award show, or about $150,000 a year, said Herb Jellinek, the academy’s chief operating officer.

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Times staff writer Beth Shuster contributed to this report.