Thursday, 4/24/97 Proposal turns public Greystone into
international meeting center Pacific Rim Institute, UCLA
participation part of plan to utilize Beverly Hills home
By Gil Hopenstand Daily Bruin Staff Where better to build a new
Pacific Rim Studies Institute than in a sprawling hillside mansion?
That’s what members of the Beverly Hills business community and the
School of Public Policy and Social Research are asking. Talks are
under way to develop the 55-room, 46,000 square-foot Greystone
Mansion into a state-of-the-art international meeting center and
research institute. Proponents have big dreams, but then again,
this is Beverly Hills. "Greystone would be a great place for a
Pacific Rim Institute," said Mark Scott, city manager of Beverly
Hills. "The preferred concept is for UCLA to have a major role in
the program," Scott continued. Discussions have been ongoing for
several months with plans being developed, but both parties
stressed that the idea is still "conceptual." In fact, UCLA’s own
Pacific Rim Studies Center knew nothing of the proposal. But at the
School of Public Policy and Social Research, founding Dean Archie
Kleingartner said they are trying to design "something of national
and international significance." The idea is not a research center,
but rather a meeting place where deals would get done. Kleingartner
said Greystone could host government-to-government meetings on a
wide range of issues, such as trade. "It would be a place where
visiting scholars – whether business leaders or government
dignitaries – could work," he said. The plan for Greystone also
proves the old adage of "location, location, location." "This could
enhance L.A.’s claim as the capital of the Pacific Rim," said
communications Professor Tom Plate, who discussed the Greystone
plan in one of his Los Angeles Times columns on the rising "Pacific
Power." "Beverly Hills is a brand-name city. It’s a combination of
opportunity and marketing," he said. "It’s a great idea and let’s
try to do it. But not every good idea gets done." Not every idea
for the under-used Greystone Mansion gets done, either. The city
blocked several development plans for the 18.3-acre, publicly-owned
property originally home to the Doheny family, of oil fame. "We’ve
looked for ideas for a long time," Scott said of the mansion first
acquired in 1965. "This would be compatible with the neighborhood
and community." The only acceptable uses so far for the house and
gardens, located north of Sunset Boulevard on Loma Vista Drive, is
as a summer camp, public park and film location. Pictures such as
"The Witches of Eastwick," "Winds of War" and "Jumping Jack Flash"
were all shot there. And, as with most things in Los Angeles, the
issue also revolves around money. Kleingartner said the mansion
would need upwards of $15 million in renovations and the city’s
approval to become operational as they envision. "The ball is with
Beverly Hills," Plate concluded. School of Public Policy