Louisiana Film Studios, and its executive Wayne Read, do not own the Harahan property at 600 Edwards Avenue where the studio is located. Read signed a six month lease in January with the owners. New Orleans businessman John Georges says, "It is an investment George Ackel and I are partners with my children's trust. George manages the property."
Fox 8 has obtained a copy of the lease that calls for Read and Louisiana Film studios to pay Ackel and the Georges' trust $100,000 a month in rent. Georges says he's been negotiating for months to sell the property to Read and LFS for a reported 15 million dollars. So far, no sale.
Georges says, "I would love for anybody to buy the property. It was an abandoned property in bankruptcy and it is one of many properties that we would love to sell, but quite frankly I have had conversations with some of the parties and I am trying to help the parties work it out." Georges is referring to parties disgruntled with Wayne Read and Louisiana Film Studios. 47 Construction, partly owned by Kristen Houser, is suing Read for hundreds of thousands of dollars of unpaid bills for renovation work done. And nearly two dozen investors associated with the Saints organization, like former player Kevin Houser, who claim Read never provided them the state infrastructure tax credits they paid for.
Georges adds, "I hope the parties involved work it our. We own the property and it is leased to the party that owns the studio. We hope all parties get together and work things out." Wayne Read issued a statement earlier this week saying he was working with his creditors to find solutions. With no guarantee that his lease will even be renewed, Louisiana Film Studio's situation may get more dire if it isn't fixed fast.
Late this afternoon the public relations firm representing Wayne Read told Fox 8 to expect a detailed release by the end of this week giving Mr Read and Louisiana Film Studios' response to the allegations against them.
