CIM Puts Historic Hollywood Studio on Market
Firm seeks buyer for The Lot on Formosa, which dates back to silent film era in 1918.
CIM Group is looking for a buyer for The Lot on Formosa in West Hollywood, an historic 540K SF production facility where several classic films have been made and HBO currently produces some if its hit TV shows.
The 11-acre Lot on Formosa, located at 1041 North Formosa Ave. in West Hollywood, includes seven soundstages encompassing 87K SF, several historic production office buildings, new office buildings and two large parking garages built by CIM Group.
The studio property dates back to the silent film era in 1918, when it was owned by stars Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks. Famous tenants have included Samuel Goldwyn, Howard Hughes and Frank Sinatra.
The long list of Hollywood blockbusters made at The Lot includes Apocalypse Now, The Social Network and Some Like It Hot.
CIM Group acquired The Lot on Formosa in 2007, and subsequently expanded the studio complex, modernizing existing structures and constructing three new office buildings and a restaurant.
Last year, HBO and HBO Max signed a long-term lease on 161K SF of sound stages, support buildings and production office space at The Lot. Current tenants also include the Oprah Winfrey Network, Showtime, BET, Live Nation and Discovery.
As new and expanding streaming platforms race to create more film and TV content, the demand for more soundstage space has intensified in largest markets in LA and New York, pushing up the value of existing production facilities and fueling a wave of studio trades.
Earlier this month, East End Studios filed a development application to build a new film production complex in Downtown LA’s Arts District. Plans for the complex on a 15-acre site at the corner of 6th and Alameda Streets include 16 soundstages, and Class A office space spread across four buildings.
The DTLA site of the East End project currently is occupied by two produce warehouse buildings and surface parking.
The biggest deal to date in the sector was the purchase of the CBS Studios campus in November for $1.85B from ViacomCBS by a joint venture of Hackman Capital Partners and Square Mile Capital Management.
The 55-acre CBS Studios site in Studio City encompasses more than 1M SF of space, including 22 sound stages, third-party tenant offices, a purpose-built Broadcast Center and filmable backlot locations.
The deal includes a long-term leaseback by CBS of the Broadcast Center, which is home to TV affiliates CBS 2 and KCAL 9.
ViacomCBS said in a statement announcing the deal that it was selling the LA campus to optimize the company’s real estate and operations portfolio, allowing ViacomCBS to redeploy capital to strategic growth priorities, including streaming.