DREAMWORKS READY TO ROLL.

Byline: Lee Condon Daily News Staff Writer

Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, David Geffen and scores of DreamWorks SKG employees arrived in Glendale on Thursday to lay claim to the homely storage yard slated to become their bustling animation studio.

Just two days after the Glendale City Council granted final approval for DreamWorks' animation headquarters along the Los Angeles River, company officials broke ground on the project, which they estimate will bring 1,000 new jobs to the city.

``What you see here is nothing more than a vacant lot,'' said Katzenberg, addressing the gathering Thursday morning at the former Department of Water and Power storage yard. ``By 1997 this will a 300,000-square-foot campus.''

Spielberg told DreamWorks employees that the studio was an investment in their talents.

``We are building a place for your dreams to come true,'' Spielberg said.

As they looked over a large three-dimensional model of the project, star-struck city officials asked Spielberg, Katzenberg and Geffen to sign autographs on their DreamWorks hats, and gushed about how thrilled they were with the company's decision to bring their animators to Glendale.

``You have far exceeded our wildest dreams,'' said Councilwoman Mary Ann Plumley, who is also chairwoman of the city's redevelopment agency. ``We feel this project is going to be the benchmark for this area.''

Councilman Larry Zarian, who has been on the panel for 13 years, said the arrival of DreamWorks is the best thing to happen to Glendale since he took office.

``I don't remember a more exciting moment than this one,'' Zarian said. ``It's putting Glendale on the map around the world.''

At a loss for words to describe how happy he was, Councilman Rick Reyes jokingly stripped off his jacket and tie and foisted them on Spielberg and Geffen, and then pulled out his wallet and handed it to Katzenberg.

``That's how happy we are,'' Reyes said.

The out-of-the-way site is known as Crystal Springs, a 13-acre parcel along the Los Angeles River south of the Ventura and Golden State freeway interchange.

The property had long been used as a storage yard for the Department of Water and Power and as a helicopter landing site for area police departments.

``It's like we're putting some life back in an abandoned area,'' Reyes said.

Actual construction is scheduled to begin in the fall and DreamWorks officials expect to complete the first 300,000-square-foot phase of the project by the end of 1997. They expect to move in at the beginning of 1998, Katzenberg said. An additional 195,000 square feet is slated to be added in a second phase of construction.

The 13-acre campus - designed by Steven Erlich & Associates of Santa Monica - will be built with a Mediterranean theme, with courtyards, lavish landscaping and even a man-made river running though the grounds.

``This is unbelievable,'' Geffen said of the project model. ``I thought it was going to be like a condo.''

The site is within the city's San Fernando Redevelopment Area, which was established in December 1992 to revitalize the stagnant industrial area. The DWP had planned to build a water reclamation plant there to clean up contaminated groundwater.

In order to make way for DreamWorks the city arranged for the reclamation plant to be moved across the street, and is spending $3 million to facilitate DreamWorks' move into the city, including the costs associated with moving and redesigning the reclamation plant.

Katzenberg, now embroiled in a lawsuit against his former employer Disney, noted that the new site was right next to facility occupied by Disney's animation archives.

``I think it's prophetic that we're moving in next door to Disney,'' Geffen said. ``They'd prefer to have the sewer plant here.''

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2 Photos

PHOTO (1 -- color) David Geffen, left, Steven Spielbergand Jeffrey Katzenberg sign autographs.

(2) David Geffen, left, Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg attended Thursday's event.

Hans Gutknecht/Daily News