WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA-Comedy web site Funny or Die has signed a lease for creative office space at the Lot, an 11-acre studio/creative office campus. CIM Group is the landlord for Funny or Die, which will take one and one-half floors at Formosa South, a building under construction.
The building is expected to be completed late this year. Funny or Die will have a studio and other production and office space at Formosa South. Terms of the lease were not disclosed. Steve Kolsky, Mike Arnold and Greg Frankovich of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank represented the tenant in the transaction.
CIM Group is planning a 400,000-square-foot, four-building addition to the Lot. The firm acquired the property in late August of 2007. The buildings will be set around existing studio facilities, comprised of 312,000 square-feet with seven sound stages and several service buildings.
The new buildings, designed by HLW architects, will vary in size and configuration, including two 150,000-square-foot, six-story office buildings. CIM Group envisions the blending of the existing historic structures and the new buildings to create an office campus with the character of a studio lot. The studio facilities will continue to serve the entertainment industry with Skye Partners managing the day-to-day studio operations.
The Lot has a colorful Hollywood history. Originally known as the Pickford-Fairbanks Studio Lot and owned by the movie stars Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, the site hosted the production company for legendary movie mogul Samuel Goldwyn, who referred to it as Samuel Goldwyn Studios.
A dispute arose after Fairbanks' death in 1939 between Goldwyn and Pickford, and a court ordered the property to be auctioned. Goldwyn picked it up and formally changed the name to Samuel Goldwyn Studios.
The name stuck until 1980, when Warner Bros. purchased the site. They sold the property in 1999 and the site was officially changed to "the Lot." That sale generated controversy because of the nearby Formosa Cafe, a legendary Hollywood hangout that was threatened with demolition by the original plans for renewal at the Lot. But the Formosa obtained landmark status and was preserved.
Formosa South is a five-story building featuring large floorplates and 13-foot average ceiling heights. The building is being built to LEED Gold standards and features floor-to-ceiling glass, operable windows, terraces and balconies. The Lot also features a commissary and sound stages in addition to the creative office space. Construction began in April of last year.
The Lot is located on Santa Monica Blvd., bounded by Formosa Ave. and Poinsettia Pl. in West Hollywood. Formosa South is adjacent to the studio arrival gates, which are being remodeled.
CIM Group owns the Hollywood & Highland complex, among other local landmarks. It also owns and develops a portfolio of properties in West Hollywood, including office, retail, studios, hotel and multi-family residential properties.
As previously reported by GlobeSt.com, construction on the nearby Movietown Plaza mixed-use project in West Hollywood should begin this fall.
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