Magic Johnson Forms Restaurant Venture

Beverly Hills-based Johnson Development Corp. said it will open TGI Friday’s restaurants in a partnership with closely held Dallas-based Friday’s Hospitality Worldwide Inc. The companies will open a restaurant near the Magic Johnson Theatres in Los Angeles and at the site of the Johnson theaters in Atlanta and Houston by the end of 1998, said Johnson Development President Ken Lombard. The theater complex in Los Angeles is adjacent to the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza mall. The shopping complex has a vacant restaurant formerly operated as a Joseph’s, but Lombard said the company has not yet selected a site. Johnson Development, controlled by former Los Angeles Laker Earvin “Magic” Johnson, plans to open theaters and TGI Friday’s at five other sites during the next two years, Lombard said.