San Fernando Valley Glendale Jo-Ann Stores Inc. is set to open a new location just a few months after closing at its previous location. The crafts superstore will open a 34,000 square-foot outlet at 1000 S. Central Ave., the former location of an Albertsons supermarket. The previous location on Orange Street closed in January after the developer announced plans to construct apartments on the site. Jo-Ann Fabrics specializes in arts and crafts including sewing, scrapbooking and home decorating. The Hudson, Ohio company operates more than 700 locations around the country, in addition to an e-commerce site. Animation studio DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. has purchased a popular Youtube network for teens, AwesomenessTV of Los Angeles, for $33 million. It was founded last year as a subscriber-based YouTube network offering original talk shows, sketch comedy and scripted and reality shows. If earning targets are met in the next two years, the total payment could reach $117 million. Burbank SeaPort Airlines Inc. of Portland, Ore., began service last month between Bob Hope Airport and the Imperial Valley. The airline will offer 12 non-stop roundtrip flights a week to and from Imperial County Airport in El Centro using a nine-passenger seat Cessna Caravan. The Burbank airport could use the business. It saw a 5.7 percent decline last year to 4.1 million passengers after American Airlines pulled its operations and Jet Blue and Delta shifted flights to other airports. SeaPort, the first new airline to work out of Burbank since 2007, also provides service in Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, Missouri, Oregon, Tennessee and Texas. Entertainment conglomerate Walt Disney Co. has sold videogame licensing rights for the “Star Wars” brand to Electronic Arts Inc. The Redwood City, Calif. videogame publisher plans to release several different games set in the Star Wars universe. The multi-year agreement will give Electronic Arts, famous for its “Madden NFL” football games, exclusive rights to create games, though Disney will keep some rights over the intellectual property. Woodland Hills Crown Books, a discount book retailer, is scheduled to open at the Westfield Promenade mall in Woodland Hills. The 24,000 square-foot space was previously occupied by a Barnes & Noble Inc. outlet that closed in December. Crown Books went bankrupt in 2001, but the retail name was purchased by Andy Weiss, who operates other Valley locations in Pasadena and Burbank. Calabasas A lawsuit stemming from home loans that were packaged into securities during the financial crisis by former Calabasas insurer Countrywide Financial has been settled. Bank of America Corp., which acquired Countrywide in 2008, will pay $1.6 billion to MBIA Inc., a financial holding company based in Armonk, N.Y. As part of the settlement, both companies are to drop all outstanding litigation, once the deal is approved by the New York State Departments of Financial Services. Bank of America maintains home loan offices in Calabasas. Antelope Valley Lancaster NRG Energy Inc. of Carlsbad announced the opening of its 66-megawatt facility in Lancaster this month. Alpine Solar Generating Facility, which can produce enough energy to power 53,000 homes, has been operational since earlier in the year. The plant is selling its power to Pacific Gas & Electric Co. on a 20-year contract. The facility is the largest solar plant in California. Lancaster recently passed an ordinance that requires solar energy production components on all new home developments. Conejo Valley westlake Village E. Land World Ltd. has closed its $170 million purchase of K-Swiss Inc., making the Westlake Village maker of casual footwear a subsidiary of the South Korean retail conglomerate. The cash-for-stock deal was announced in January when E. Land offered $4.75 a share for the company, a 49 percent premium on the stock price at the time. K-Swiss was founded in 1966 when its “Classic” shoe, the first leather tennis shoe, debuted at the Wimbledon Championship tennis tournament.
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