After facing slew of criticism from his neighbors in Marin County over plans to expand Skywalker Ranch studio for a third and final time, George Lucas has opted instead to turn his plot of land into subsidized housing, in what many of his neighbors are calling payback in the form of class warfare.
Lucas has decided to use his own funds to build 224 subsidized living units smack in the middle of the land where his neighbors said “no” to his studio expansion. Upon completion, Lucas’s project will be one of the largest subsidized housing developments of its kind in the Bay Area. Marin County is one of the wealthiest in the nation.
“He said, ‘We’ve got enough millionaires here. What we need is some houses for regular working people'” Lucas’ lawyer Gary Giacomini told the local CBS News affiliate in San Francisco. “George Lucas said, ‘If I’m not going to do what I wanted to do there, what can I do that would be really beneficial to this community?'” Marin County Supervisor Steve Kinsey said.
In 2012, Lucas had introduced plans for the development after facing opposition to expanding his studios. The New York Times detailed how “his announcement has unsettled a county whose famously liberal politics often sits uncomfortably with the issue of low-cost housing and where battles have been fought over such construction before.”
Lucas said he would opt to build his studios in another location, one “that sees us as a creative asset, not as an evil empire.”
Follow Adelle Nazarian on Twitter @AdelleNaz
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