Wednesday, March 5, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
HENDERSON -- City officials are singing, "Hooray for Hollywood," but some residents and area officials question if the melody will sound a little flat in this growing bedroom community of Las Vegas.
The City Council Tuesday night unanimously approved the sale of 85 acres in the Wagon Wheel Industrial Park for $4.6 million to Doris Keating, a local resident and Hollywood producer, to build a $110 million independent studio and production facility.
"We plan to break ground the first quarter of '98 and to complete the project within a year," said Keating.
"In my experience, I've found there is a great need for another (film-making) hub outside of Los Angeles."
Keating told council members that Black Mountain Studios will feature multiple sound stages, related production facilities, offices, retail stores, restaurants and themed back-lot streets such as those of the Old West.
She also said the first phase of the project will add about 215 jobs to the local economy, and will help bring in an additional 1.5 million tourists and nearly $32 million each year in sales tax revenue for the city.
Several residents objected to the size and scope of the plan, and Keating said she would "meet all the neighbors' considerations within reasonable time limits."
Approval of the land sale is the first step in a city permitting process required for everything from the design to the actual construction of the Hollywood-style studio and tourist attraction.
But, from comments by council members Tuesday night, Keating can expect smooth sailing.
"I think this is a great use," council member Jack Clark said. "It will create jobs, and it will not cause pollution. It will not decrease property values, but will be an asset to the town."
But will the project be a success?
Some local officials have their doubts.
"If I was doing that well, I'd build another studio, now wouldn't I?" noted Larry Hamm, owner of Las Vegas Video & Sound, Nevada's first major sound stage, which opened 18 months ago in southwest Las Vegas and offers filmmakers 17,000 square feet of indoor filming areas.
Despite securing work for recent films such as "Fools Rush In," "Vegas Vacation" and "Con Air," Hamm said his studio is booked only about 50 percent of the time.
Hamm explained that many Hollywood studios "bring their own people in" to Las Vegas to shoot a few scenes in order to get a Las Vegas location into a film, and then quickly leave town.
"There just isn't enough business here," Hamm said.
Bob Hirsch, director of the state's Motion Picture Division, also questions whether a large studio could be a viable enterprise in Southern Nevada.
"Where's the money? And I'm not quoting from the film ('Jerry Maguire')," Hirsch said. "That's the appropriate question."
But Keating said she has appropriate answers in the way of backers.
Among them is her husband, Barry Schlesinger, chairman of Heitman Properties, Ltd., one of the largest real estate management companies in the nation, operating in 40 states.
Chandos Mahon, executive vice president of Network One, a cable network, said Keating "has a huge support organization including Fortune 500 companies headquartered on the East Coast and West Coast."
If Keating is successful in her endeavor to found the largest movie studio outside of Los Angeles, then her story would rival many of the television docudramas she has produced in the past 15 years.
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