Los Angeles's beloved Universal Studios Hollywood Theme Park is about to get a lot bigger, and a little more magical as well. On Tuesday NBCUniversal approved it's 25-year NBCUniversal Evolution Plan that will soon begin construction of, among other things, a Wizarding World of Harry Potter section of the park.
In total, the expansion will cost around $1.6 billion and add roughly 2 million square feet to the studio complex. On top of the Harry Potter addition, Universal also plans to build hotel and retail outlets as well as upgrading their productions studios and office space. The construction efforts are expected to be quite a boon to the Los Angeles economy.
"In total, the Evolution Plan will create $2 billion in economic activity during operations and $2.7 billion during construction; and create over 30,000 job during construction and operations," says NBCUniversal chief real estate development and planning officer Corinne Verdery.
Verdery also mentioned that the new hotel that will be built will bring in $15 million of revenue annually once it opens for business. She could not disclose precisely when the Harry potter project would be open, but it has been confirmed that work on that section of the park will begin this summer. NBCUniversal hopes to make it similar to the Harry Potter theme park that they have at Universal Studios in Orlando.
"This is not the kind of project that comes before us every day, and it's not the kind of project that you could just turn your back on when it comes here," said Project Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky. "This is going to be a huge attraction. In all my years, I've never had this kind of [positive] relationship with a developer."
Even though many people are excited at the prospect of this new addition to Universal Studios Hollywood, not everyone shares in that enthusiasm. Some are actually quite upset with the expansion.
"They're allowed to have explosions at 1 o'clock in the morning and there is no provision or component within the permit that enables this community to get them to stop it," said resident Rick Gombar, whose property overlooks the studio. "It's a money grab as far as I'm concerned for the city and the county and they've kind of thrown us under the bus in the process."
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to approve the project, but that doesn't mean the expansion's detractors will go down without a fight. Nearby residents have already indicated that they will go to court and sue Universal should construction begin, potentially delaying delaying future developments.
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