A few weeks back, Lucasfilm eighty-sixed plans to build a brand new movie studio in Lucas Valley in San Rafael, California. Citing too much pushback from estate homeowners in the region, Lucasfilm abruptly pulled up stakes and shifted their efforts towards finding a new home elsewhere in the state.
The victory for homeowners may ultimately prove to be tragically short-sighted, reports the North Bay Business Journal.
Several professional firms had been contracted to work on Lucas’s Grady Ranch project during its development, providing services such as environmental consulting and architectural planning. Including the indirect economic activity for restaurants and other local businesses, the two-year construction phase was expected to add nearly $134 million per year into the local and regional economy, according to an impact study released last month by the Marin Economic Forum.
That phase was also expected to generate 690 new jobs in Marin County during construction, and nearly $5 million in combined annual state and local tax revenue, according to the study.
Yet with the announcement on April 10 that George Lucas and his real estate company, Skywalker Properties, would no longer proceed with the project, the possibility of direct and indirect economic stimulus for the region’s economy has evaporated.
In efforts to keep a movie studio out of their estate communities, the residents of Lucas Valley may have cost the region countless potential jobs and a staggering influx of hard cash. According to the article, for every 100 employees Lucasfilm brought in, Marin County businesses could have generated as much as $82 million in revenue and $3.8 million in combined state and local taxes.
