Since Long Beach Studios’ purchase of Boeing land fell apart in March, the former airliner factory has been wooed by four suitors–including Long Beach Studios

PHOTO COURTESY OF TESLA MOTORS

When the deal to transform 79 acres of land at The Boeing Company into the city’s first movie studio in 86 years collapsed March 6, Long Beach might just have gotten lucky.

Sources tell The District Weekly that the former airliner factory–one of the best pieces of available property in the city–may instead become a Tesla Motors electric car factory.

But that’s not all. Other suitors include a solar panel manufacturer, a wind turbine maker–and Long Beach Studios, which first announced its plans in September to spend an estimated $500 million buying the land and converting its two cavernous hangars into our first film production facility since Balboa Studios wrapped in 1923.

Now, the company seems poised to do just that. Again.

“We just went back into escrow the other day. We are going forward with Boeing,” said Long Beach Studios Chairman Jack O’Halloran, a former boxer and character actor whom you may remember as Non, in Superman II.

“We had the money in our hand several times and it disappeared,” O’Halloran said, blaming the global recession for delaying the purchase. “We were fortunate enough to find it again.”

He told The District Weekly Saturday that Long Beach Studios re-opened escrow April 22. Escrow could close as soon as May 31, O’Halloran said–and filming could begin by late spring on a slate of Hollywood films.

“We have more than one” production lined up to film, O’Halloran said, noting that while cameras roll, the property will undergo an 18-month renovation.

He characterized the past seven months as a thriller of a real estate transaction, though from almost any other perspective it seems to be one with a cliffhanger ending.

That’s because, depending upon whom you believe, the land may already be in escrow, or due to be leased to Tesla Motors, which is famous for its Tesla Roadster, a $100,000 electric supercar.

“[They want] to build electric cars there in a couple years, but in the interim they’re still going to be shooting there,” said a source who asked to remain anonymous for fear of jeopardizing the new deal.

Movie production could begin as soon as June 1, the source said, and would likely be limited to film shoots–in contrast with the Long Beach Studios deal, which O’Halloran told The District Weekly in September would turn the vacant airplane factory into “the most advanced digital studio in the world,” and include computer game production and motion-capture stages.

If Tesla comes to Long Beach, the source said electric car production probably would not begin until some time in 2011.

“It’s exciting,” said Fifth District Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske, whose district includes the Boeing property–situated between Veterans Memorial Stadium and the northeast corner of Lakewood Boulevard and Conant Street.

“I know they’re looking at Tesla, and I understand there may be another business that makes solar and wind technology,” Schipske said. “This will really help Long Beach continue on its way to becoming a green city.” Or not.

In an email Saturday, Tesla Senior Communications Manager Rachel Konrad said the company, which wants to build a factory in Southern California, “[has] not finalized the lease on a location yet and [isn’t] going to comment until that time.”

Mayor Bob Foster’s lips were sealed too.

“… the Mayor can’t comment on potential projects at the former 717 site due to ongoing negotiations,” Foster’s Chief of Staff Becki Ames said in an email Sunday.

Not even Boeing would say a few words.

“No deal has been made with anyone,” said Boeing spokeswoman Debby Arkell.

When asked whether Tesla Motors was in escrow or in talks to lease the former 717 airliner factory, Arkell said, “We can’t comment on any pending transactions.” Schipske found that a bit odd.

“I haven’t heard anything from Boeing. Usually we do,” she said. “But either way it’s more jobs, and that’s great for Long Beach.”

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