Burbank getting animated

Paul Clinton

BURBANK VILLAGE -- Burbank will be adding another member to its

growing stable of media animation leaders following an announcement by

the Cartoon Network that it is relocating to the city.

The animation cable network, previously based in North Hollywood, has

signed a lease to occupy the former Pacific Bell building at 300 N. Third

St., officials said.

The move was announced in a Jan. 31 letter from Glen Wong, an

executive with Cartoon Network parent Turner Properties, to Burbank

Community Development Director Bob Tague.

Turner is a division of Time Warner, which also owns Warner Bros.

Cartoon Network joins a growing roster of television animation

companies in Burbank. Disney animation subsidy DIC, Walt Disney

Television Animation, Warner Bros. and children’s cable programmer

Nickelodeon all develop animated programming in the city.

“We’ve got a pretty good gathering of the cartoon network groups,”

Tague said. “(Burbank is) the center of where the Saturday cartoons are

produced.”

Unlike the other companies, the Cartoon Network produces relatively

few original programs. Mostly, the network airs reruns of established

hits like “Tom and Jerry,” “Scooby Doo” and shows featuring Warner Bros.

characters such as Bugs Bunny.

Disney is No.1 on the television animation front. The company produces

25% of all original programming, in addition to holding a 50% share of

the overall market, according to company spokesman Gary Miereanu.

Burbank has always been at the center of animation production,

Miereanu said.

“It’s nothing new,” Miereanu said. “Burbank owns the market in

cartoons.”

Cartoon Network will bring 180 jobs to Burbank, which already boasts

dozens of media-related firms.

In his letter, Wong said Cartoon Network is refurbishing the Pacific

Bell building, which has been vacant for almost five years. Once

finished, it will be called Cartoon Network Studios.

With parking in the Village at a premium, the Cartoon Network has had

to scramble for spaces. It will lease 70 spaces from the Burbank Unified

School District in a lot adjacent to the Police and Fire Headquarters

building. Also, the company will lease 80 spaces from the Burbank

Redevelopment Agency in the nearby Gangi parking garage.

“That was their need,” Tague said of the parking spaces. “It’s more

than the code requires.”