Culver Studios the landmark production facility where “Gone with the Wind” and “Citizen Kane” were filmed has been put on the market.
The studio, which was built in 1918 and is at 9336 W. Washington Blvd., includes 13 sound stages, production offices and a New York City street location. The studio ownership group, PCCP Studio City Los Angeles LLC, has chosen a brokerage team led by CB Richard Ellis Group Inc.’s Kevin Shannon to market the property.
Real estate industry sources with knowledge of the property say it could sell for $150 million.
The 14-acre property includes 434,775 square feet of office and production space. A new 49,000-square-foot office building and parking structure is currently under construction and is to be completed in September, according to the CB Richard Ellis Group offering memorandum.
“The new four-story office/production facility under construction will provide much needed additional support space at the studio to satisfy incredible production office space demand,” the offering memorandum states.
James Cella, Culver Studios president and chief executive, declined to comment.
The studio has been put on the market just as two other studios have recently changed hands. Private equity firm Carlyle Group paid $150 million for Manhattan Beach Studios in a deal the closed mid-June. Last month the Business Journal reported that local real estate firm Hudson Capital LLC is paying about $205 million for Sunset Gower Studios.
Real estate experts have speculated that Los Angeles-area studios are trading at increasingly high prices because of local land constraints and the studios’ locations in desirable residential markets. Sunset Gower Studios was marketed as a “redevelopment opportunity” but sources say Culver Studios is being marketed as a studio.
A buyer for Culver Studios is to be chosen after Labor Day.
Shannon declined to comment.
Beverly Boulevard Deal
Local real estate investment group Beverly Flores Equities LLC has paid $6.8 million for a Beverly Boulevard office building its managing member sold nine years ago for $2.1 million.
Seller Gazel Partners, a French television company, has used the property as a production office for the past nine years.
The real estate firm, which is led by managing member Jack Ravan, plans a remodel and exterior renovation of the office building. The project would include adding ground floor retail to the 17,500-square-foot building.
The deal for the four-story building at 8322 Beverly Blvd. breaks down to about $389 per square foot. It closed July 31.
The property at Beverly Boulevard and Flores Street lacks entitlements for retail development. The new owners plan about 1,200 square feet of retail space.
Ravan, a local real estate investor, owns a recently opened four-unit loft property next door to the office building.
“We really believe in taking a block and revitalizing it to create a better environment and that is happening at Beverly and Flores,” said Ravan, who is also president of commercial real estate firm South Park Group Inc. “What we’d like to do is complete the block by giving (the building) a high-tech skin with milky glass and stainless steel.”
The remodel of the property is slated to begin in November and the renovations could be completed by early 2008, said Steve Ravan, assistant vice president at South Park Group, who represented Beverly Flores Equities in the deal and is the nephew of Jack Ravan.
Sep Melamed, president of Prime Properties Real Estate Services, represented the seller.
Medical Facility Sold
Stamford, Conn.-based Lexham Private Investors LLC has paid $16.9 million in an off-market transaction for a medical office building in Torrance.
The deal with seller Wilduns Torrance LLC, a partnership of unnamed private individuals, breaks down to $257 per square foot. The 65,855-square-foot building, called Torrance Medical Plaza, is located at 3655 Lomita Blvd. The deal closed in mid-July.
The four-story Class A building is currently 81 percent leased and Wilduns Torrance completed a renovation of the property this spring.
“(The sale price) is considerably below replacement costs,” said Bob Safai of Madison Partners, who represented both sides of the deal. “It would cost about $500 a foot to build. It has a lease-up to do, so it has a value-add component to it.”
Lexham has been active in the local medical office market, which features very low vacancy rates. In 2006, the firm purchased medical office buildings at 3808 W. Riverside Dr. in Burbank and at 400 S. Sepulveda Blvd. in Manhattan Beach.
More recently, Lexham Holdings, an affiliate of Lexham Private Investors, purchased a Santa Monica medical office building for $14.8 million from Princeton Medical Holdings LLC. The deal for that building at 1450 10th St. closed in May.
Staff reporter Daniel Miller can be reached at
[email protected]
or (323) 549-5225, ext. 263.
