Huge Universal Studios Expansion Could Start This Summer

The NBCUniversal Evolution Plan, the huge expansion of the Universal Studios lot, has now gotten final-final approval from the LA City Council (it got initial approval last fall) and the mayor says he'll sign off too; now it goes to the county planning commission for the last of it. All those approvals cap about seven years of work on various iterations of the plan--just last year, NBCUni cut all housing from the project. They also agreed to cut any digital billboards facing neighboring homeowners, aside from ones at the entrance. The final version "involves extensive upgrades to the company's movie and television studios, including new sets, soundstages and technology, as well as new hotels, $100 million in transportation improvements and expansions at CityWalk and the theme park," in the words of the Daily News. There'll also be a park and bike path on the river. The studio says that if everything goes according to plan, work will start this summer--first up is the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter attraction and the production facility upgrades.
· NBCUniversal's $1.6B park, studio plan approved by L.A. City Council [LADN]
· City Approves Huge Universal Studios Expansion [Curbed LA]