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03/17/08

Emerson College has announced plans to build a permanent center in Hollywood for its highly successful Los Angeles Program. The center will be built on a 37,244-square-foot vacant lot at Sunset Blvd. and Gordon Street, which the College purchased on March 25. Emerson President Jacqueline Liebergott said over the next two to three years, the College will develop plans for the building that will include academic facilities, living quarters, administrative offices and space for alumni and College events.

Emerson's 20-year-old LA program combines course work and internships. It currently operates from rented space in Burbank. The 95 seniors enrolled in the semester-long program live at the nearby Oakwood Apartments. Emerson was the first East Coast college to establish an LA program and will be the first to own and operate a mixed use center.

In announcing plans for a permanent LA center President Liebergott said, "While Emerson College is based in Boston, we have a special interest in Los Angeles, given our successful LA Program and our nearly 3,000 alumni who live in the LA area and work in all aspects of the entertainment and media industries. We began exploring options for creating a permanent Emerson presence in LA several years ago and quickly settled on Hollywood. It is an ideal location, given its historical role in the entertainment industry, the access it provides to studios and other facilities of interest to our students, and the impressive revitalization that is underway thanks to leaders like City Council President Eric Garcetti and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. With the purchase of land on Sunset Boulevard and the construction of a permanent center, we will have a home at last."