Cim Group

In the end, the Oscars just couldn't leave Hollywood. After entertaining multiple offers to relocate the event, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Tuesday that it would keep the Academy Awards at the theater at Hollywood & Highland, negotiating a new 20-year deal with the CIM Group, which owns the complex. CIM also announced that Dolby Laboratories had signed on as the new name sponsor for the complex's 3,400-seat theater, taking over from Kodak, which had filed for bankruptcy.

Los Angeles is being promised more than 800 jobs, millions of dollars in new Hollywood tourism and a 10-year run of the famed Cirque du Soleil, and all the city has to do is approve a $30-million loan -- in federal money -- to the lessors of the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. What could be bad? A lot. The city should reject the loan, then take a serious look at how it invests in economic development projects.

A $100-million apartment and shopping complex is be ing planned for a formerly neglected stretch of Hollywood Boulevard that once held a legendary rehearsal studio where generations of actors learned to dance and wield swords. Commercial real estate developer Sonny Astani said he bought a 1.9-acre site on Hollywood near Western Avenue for almost $11 million. Among the structures on the property is a building that was part of Falcon Studios, a performing arts school founded in 1929.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote that Los Angeles has had its share of so-so mayors, and it'd be nice to have a great one for a change. Readers agreed, but said they weren't sure there was greatness in the current crop of candidates. And that was before Monday night's televised debate, which bolstered their point. For the most part, the five candidates came off as competent but not compelling. There was no presence, no magic, no star quality. "What an uninspiring bunch," wrote Peter Weinberger, a Pico-Robertson resident.

Before the Cirque du Soleil performers pranced onto the outdoor stage in the sweltering heat Sunday, bushels of ice cubes were flung across the wooden floor to cool the surface for the hands and feet of dancers. A crowd of hundreds, hot but patiently watching at the Grove shopping center, cheered as if this safety step was part of the show. Onstage, Sebastien Coin, encased in a yellow striped unitard, balanced his body horizontally on one hand and languidly eyed his rapt audience.

Efforts to upgrade a key section of the Hollywood shopping and entertainment district, part of a revival that is making the area more attractive to locals and tourists, have taken a major step forward. CIM Group, the district's largest commercial landlord, said it had agreed to acquire the Seven Seas building, a dilapidated structure that once housed a famous Hollywood Boulevard nightclub. At the request of the city's redevelopment agency, CIM plans to restore the edifice to its 1920s style.

"Iris," the extravagant Cirque du Soleil show that backers hoped would be a long-running tourist attraction at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, will close Jan. 19 because of disappointing ticket sales. Cirque du Soleil announced Friday that the demand for tickets to "Iris" had not "met expectations," but it declined to provide box office figures. "Iris" opened in September 2011 at an estimated cost of nearly $100 million in production expenses and theater renovation, helped along by a $30-million loan from the city's Community Development Department to a partnership set up by the CIM Group, which owns the theater and the rest of the Hollywood & Highland Center.

Los Angeles developer CIM Group broke ground on Midtown Plaza, a $114-million retail center at San Vicente and Pico boulevards. The 390,000-square-foot center is expected to be anchored by Home Depot and another major retailer that has yet to sign a lease. The project's unusual design -- stacking two "big box" retailers on top of each other -- drew objections from neighbors who were concerned about potential traffic problems.

Santa Monica-based developer Commercial Investment Management Group has sold 10 prime properties, including five sites on the Third Street Promenade, to a partnership between it and a subsidiary of a Maryland company with a large portfolio of shopping centers. The partnership, Street Retail West, has been capitalized with $17.6 million in cash from Maryland-based Federal Realty Investment Trust's subsidiary, $2 million in cash from CIM Group and the assumption of $8.4 in debt.

The City Council has voted 4 to 1 to allow the building of a mixed-use project in one of the city's historic neighborhoods, despite the opposition of dozens of residents of the 80-year-old Union Oil Neighborhood. The 69-unit, three-story complex -- to be located at Brea Boulevard and Elm Street -- will be built by Los Angeles-based CIM Group Inc.