Live Nation’s bid to run Greek Theatre gets parks panel’s backing

The Greek Theatre could change hands after a Los Angeles city commission recommended Thursday that another company take over running the historic Griffith Park venue, the latest step in a bitter battle between entertainment titans.

The decision could ultimately pull the theater out of the hands of the Nederlander Organization, which has run the Greek for decades. Nederlander bid jointly with Staples Center and L.A. Live developer AEG to continue operating the venue, but a panel of evaluators recommended handing control to Live Nation, the company that recently hosted the Made in America festival in downtown Los Angeles.

Although Nederlander-AEG said it would guarantee millions more in revenue to the city, Live Nation said it would spend more to renovate the 85-year-old theater over time, according to a staff analysis. The Recreation and Parks Commission wrestled with the decision at three lengthy meetings in recent weeks.

“I take this decision very seriously and I appreciate all the concerns that have been raised at these hearings,” Commissioner Lynn Alvarez said. After poring over all the information, “there was nothing in there … that made me feel that there was a significant flaw in what the panel recommended.”

The commission’s recommendation now heads to a City Council committee, and the final contract will have to be approved by the parks commission, the council and Mayor Eric Garcetti. The new agreement to run the Greek will span 10 years, with chances to twice extend the agreement for an additional five years each.

Nederlander-AEG argued that the recommendation to choose Live Nation was rooted in faulty analysis that didn’t properly account for Nederlander-AEG’s spending on such things as theater upgrades and community outreach. Outside consultants commissioned by Nederlander-AEG contended that the panel evaluation was “inadequate and misleading” because of errors in comparing the bids.

The company also mobilized community support: Many longtime Los Feliz residents said they worried about added noise and other nuisances on the residential roads that lead to the Greek and pleaded to keep Nederlander in charge. Lon Wahlstrom told the commission that if it chose Live Nation, “please provide Ambien to all the people in our neighborhood so we the residents can sleep nights.”

Nederlander also argued that Live Nation should have been disqualified for including a provision that would have allowed it to pay less rent to the city if legal challenges or other obstacles affected its plans. Parks officials said any agreement they reach with the company would not include such language, and Live Nation later clarified it would pay the minimum guaranteed revenue “at all times.”

After the Thursday vote, Nederlander and AEG said they were “disappointed that the board did not carefully consider the overwhelming evidence” that the evaluation process was flawed. Some opponents of the decision said they planned to share their misgivings about the process with city lawmakers.

“We’re going to make darn well sure that our elected politicians understand our concerns,” said Chris Laib, president of the Los Feliz Improvement Assn.

Live Nation denounced Nederlander-AEG for “gross misrepresentation” of its proposals and rallied employees and others familiar with other Live Nation venues to its defense, including some Los Feliz residents. It emphasized its promised investments to update the Greek, contending that Nederlander had left the venue neglected and in disrepair.

“The fact of the matter is, is that they promised to restore the theater, bring back the columns — and then they chose not to do so,” said Victor De la Cruz, an attorney representing Live Nation. Other Live Nation representatives argued that Nederlander-AEG was making a last-ditch-bid to challenge the selection process only after it had lost.

In a statement issued after the vote, Live Nation said it looked forward to “setting a new standard for this iconic venue ... while being sensitive to neighbors in the surrounding community.”

The victory for Live Nation comes as new details emerge about free tickets handed out by the company to Made in America, a Labor Day weekend music festival in Grand Park downtown. The company gave Garcetti aides more than 100 tickets, which were passed out to council members and some city commissioners, according to a filing with the California Fair Political Practices Commission.

The Times previously reported that 12 of the 15 council members’ offices received tickets. The Oct. 10 filing shows that Board of Public Works Commissioner Barbara Romero and Police Commissioner Sandra Figueroa also got some, along with the city’s Department of General Services, the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board and the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles.

Garcetti spokesman Yusef Robb said mayoral aides did not distribute tickets to parks commissioners. The face value of the tickets was $99.50 for one day or $125 for a weekend pass, according to the filing.

City ethics rules bar lawmakers from receiving gifts worth more than $100 from bidders, contractors and others with a financial stake in a city decision. Robb said city officials had not broken ethics rules because they followed an authorized state process to distribute the tickets. He rejected the idea that receiving the tickets would affect Garcetti’s judgment on the Greek.

Although Garcetti worked closely with Live Nation on the festival, “the bottom line is our office works closely with both companies,” Robb said, citing its work with AEG on convention center and NFL stadium plans.

emily.alpert@latimes.com

Twitter: @LATimesemily

soumya.karlamangla@latimes.com

Twitter: @skarlamangla