The Boeing 717 manufacturing site is still empty despite being pursued by both Long Beach Studios and Tesla Motors.
The retired aircraft manufacturing space, which has been vacant since 2006, would be used for production at both companies — Long Beach Studios would produce movies and television shows, according to its Web site, and Tesla Motors would produce a new fuel-efficient car at the facility, located near the Long Beach Airport.
“We need a production facility for the new Model S,” said Koby Brookly, a Tesla Motor Company representative. The Model S is Tesla Motors’ first electric sedan.
According to the Press-Telegram, Long Beach Studios was expected to finalize a deal Oct. 12, 2009. No such deal has been made.
“Long Beach Studios had to get funding to complete the financial package,” said Cal State Long Beach film department chair Micheal Pounds, recalling the meeting Long Beach Studios chairman Jack O’Halloran and his spokesman Joe Marich had with the film department last semester.
On the other hand, Tesla Motors has received $465 million in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, according to a press release. $100 million will fund a manufacturing plant in Palo Alto, but the rest of the money will go toward a manufacturing site for the Model S, possibly the former Douglas Boeing site.
Boeing, Tesla Motors and Long Beach Studios declined to comment on the deal.
“It’s all paperwork right now,” Marich said.
Pounds said O’Halloran and Long Beach Studios would be willing to partner with CSULB to improve the company’s profile with the city of Long Beach and to possibly receive more tax breaks.
“In exchange for partnering, we would get to use two studios,” Pounds said. “Equipment would have to be rented.” He added that O’Halloran took back his earlier statement, saying that only at odd hours of the day would the studios be free.
The studio complex would be the largest independent studio production facility with state-of-the-art capabilities, according to the Long Beach Studios Web site.
“If we had something like that, it would allow us to extend our program that we’re only doing at an introductory level right now,” Pounds said. “We’d have to do a lot of fundraising to use it.”