C.A. 1st;
A144265

The First Appellate District affirmed a judgment. The court held that a movie theater project that was funded, in part, with municipal funds, was a “public work” within the meaning of the prevailing wage law.

In 2004, the City of Hesperia began acquiring vacant property in its downtown to facilitate development of a Civic Plaza, which was to include a city hall, public library, other government buildings and “complimentary retail, restaurant, and entertainment establishments.” The city's goal was “to develop a vibrant, participatory multi- and mixed-use civic/downtown environment.” Hesperia did not have a movie theater. From 2000 to 2010, the city met with numerous theater operators in an effort to facilitate construction of a “state-of-the-art cinema experience in Hesperia.” For predominantly financial reasons, no company had built a theater during that period. In 2010, the city met with appellant Cinema West, LLC (Cinema West), who “articulated a cogent plan to develop a new, 12-screen digital cinema immediately west of the Civic Plaza Park.” Cinema West's proposal included the following “deal points”: the city would convey about 54,000 square feet of real property to Cinema West for $102,529, the property's fair market value; Cinema West would construct a “38,000 square foot, twelve-screen digital theater”; the city would construct “the necessary parking lot and provide reciprocal access and use of said parking lot,” develop a water retention system for the theater and the parking lot, and install “off-site improvements including curb, gutter and sidewalks”; Cinema West would execute a ten-year operating agreement with the city. The anticipated cost to the city was over $1.4 million. The city approved the agreement, and Cinema West began construction of the theater.