Historic film studio hits the market at top dollar as filming dips

One of many oldest film studios in Los Angeles is up on the market, maybe to the latest technology of content material creators.

The potential sale of Occidental Studios comes amid a drop in filming in Los Angeles because the native leisure trade faces such headwinds as rising competitors from studios in different cities and nations, in addition to the aftermath of filming slowdowns throughout the pandemic and trade strikes of 2023.

Occidental Studios, which dates again to 1913, was as soon as utilized by Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks to make silent movies. It’s a small model of a standard Hollywood studio with soundstages, workplaces and writers’ bungalows in a 3-acre gated campus close to Echo Park in Historic Filipinotown.

The vendor hopes its boutique status will garner $45 million, which might rank it one of the vital precious studios in Southern California at $651 per sq. foot. A legendary Hollywood studio based by Charlie Chaplin in 1917 bought final yr for $489 per foot, in keeping with actual property information supplier CoStar.

The Chaplin studio, identified till lately because the Jim Henson Firm Lot, was bought by singer-songwriter John Mayer and film director McG from the household of Muppets creator Jim Henson.

Occidental Studios could promote to certainly one of immediately’s trendy content material creators in quest of a flagship location, mentioned actual property dealer Nicole Mihalka of CBRE, who represents the vendor.

She declined to call potential patrons however mentioned she is exhibiting the property to new-media companies who don’t current themselves by way of conventional channels resembling tv exhibits and as a substitute depend on social media and the web to achieve youthful audiences.

Occidental Studios, which dates again to 1913, was as soon as utilized by Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks to make silent movies.

(CBRE)

New media entrepreneurs could not usually want soundstages, “however they like the concept of getting the historical past, the legacy” of a studio linked to the early days of cinema, she mentioned. It would lend credibility to a model and turn into a vacation spot for promotional actions in addition to being a spot to create content material, she mentioned. Mihalka envisions the area getting used for occasions for companions, sponsors and advertisers in addition to press junkets for brand new product launches.

Leisure companies situated close by embody filmmaker Ava DuVernay’s Array Now, unbiased movie and manufacturing firm Blumhouse Productions and movie and manufacturing firm Rideback Ranch.

Neighborhoods east of Hollywood resembling Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Echo Park and Highland Park have turn into residence to many individuals within the leisure trade, which Mihalka hopes will elevate the enchantment of Occidental Studios.

“We’ve been seeing movie and TV expertise heading this fashion for some time,” she mentioned, together with executives who additionally stay in these neighborhoods.

The proprietor of of Occidental Studios mentioned it’s gotten more durable for smaller studios to function within the present financial local weather that features competitors from main unbiased studio operators which have emerged in current a long time.

“As soon as upon a time, you didn’t have multibillion-dollar international portfolio corporations swimming within the waters of Hollywood,” mentioned Craig Darian, chief govt of Occidental Leisure Group Holdings Inc., citing Hudson Pacific Properties, Hackman Capital Companions and CIM Group. “They don’t seem to be content material producers, however have a protracted historical past of offering providers for a number of tv exhibits and options.”

Competitors now consists of abroad studios in such nations as Canada, Eire and Australia, he mentioned. “When manufacturing was actually strong and domiciled in Los Angeles, it was a lot simpler to stay very aggressive.”

One other issue threatening the underside line for typical studios is quickly altering know-how used to create leisure together with instruments so simple as lighting.

“You used to know that tools would final for many years,” Darian mentioned. “The brand new instruments for manufacturing have gotten out of date in far shorter order.”

Writers’ bungalows at Occidental Studios.

(CBRE)

However, Darian mentioned, the potential sale “shouldn’t be motivated by misery or urgency. Nothing is driving the choice apart from the timing of whether or not or not this stays to be a related asset to maintain inside our portfolio. If we get a suggestion at or above the asking worth, then we’re a vendor.”

Darian mentioned he may additionally search a long-term tenant to take over the studio.

Occidental Studios at 201 N. Occidental Blvd. contains over 69,000 sq. toes of buildings together with 4 soundstages and help area resembling workplaces and dressing rooms.

It’s among the many oldest frequently working studios in Hollywood, utilized by pioneering filmmakers Cecil B. DeMille, D.W. Griffith and Pickford, who labored there as an actor and filmmaker in its early years. She reportedly saved an residence on the lot for years.

Extra lately it has been used for tv manufacturing for exhibits together with “Tales of the Metropolis,” “New Lady” and HBO’s thriller “Sharp Objects.”

Native tv manufacturing space declined by 30.5% within the first quarter in contrast with the earlier yr, in keeping with he nonprofit group FilmLA, which tracks shoot days within the Better Los Angeles area. All classes of TV manufacturing have been down, together with dramas (-38.9%), comedies (-29.9%), actuality exhibits -(26.4%) and pilots (-80.3%).

Function movie manufacturing decreased by 28.9%, whereas commercials have been down by 2.1%, FilmLA mentioned.