Hackman Loses Culver City Office Campus

Troubled studio owner Hackman Capital Partners has lost control of the former Sony Pictures Animation campus in Culver City. 

The 198,000-square-foot creative office complex sold in a public auction Aug. 24 to New York City-based Fortress Investment Group at a steep discount, Los Angeles County records showed. 

The private equity firm paid $71.3 million for the property, which entered foreclosure proceedings after Culver City-based Hackman defaulted on its $103 million mortgage in late April, according to a trustee’s deed upon sale. Together with partner Affinius Capital, Hackman bought the complex in 2019 for $160 million. 

The three-building, Art Deco-style campus apparently sat vacant after its former anchor tenant, Sony’s animation division, left for mid-Wilshire in 2024. A current CBRE lease offering lists all floors of the complex, located at 9050 Washington Blvd., as available.

“After the single, long-term occupant left the office campus, we evaluated multiple leasing and alternative asset strategies, including redevelopment,” a Hackman representative said in a statement to The Real Deal. “Ultimately, we determined that putting additional capital into the asset was not in the best interest of our investment.”

Hackman didn’t respond to the Business Journal’s requests for comment in time for publication, and Fortress declined to comment.

Sold to lender

An entity affiliated with Fortress, which owns hundreds of industrial and commercial sites across the U.S., took the property’s mortgage over from Goldman Sachs three years ago, according to a June 2023 filing. The investment banker originated the passed-on note in 2021. 

The latest filing shows Fortress put a new $53.5 million mortgage on the complex after acquiring it in the late-August foreclosure sale and appointed Deutsche Bank as administrator.

The office campus adds to Fortress’ portfolio of roughly 70 properties in L.A. County, according to property records.

Many are vacant industrial sites acquired in 2021 and 2022 concentrated around the manufacturing hubs of Wilmington and Commerce. 

Outside of real estate, the buyout shop invests across a range of industries, including aviation, energy, food and beverage, healthcare, and sports media. 

Culver City considered campus purchase

Before the Culver City complex went up for auction, Culver City officials expressed interest in buying the property.

In June, Hackman founder and chief executive Michael Hackman joined city manager Odis Jones in a closed city council session to negotiate terms and price. The city declined to comment on whether it will continue to pursue the property.

Hackman and Jones also discussed the potential sale of several other properties, including the Hackman-owned Culver Steps and four commercial buildings in Samitaur Constructs’ Conjunctive Points Portfolio, which Hackman has managed since 2024. 

The Culver Steps, a mixed-use neighborhood hub anchored by Erewhon and Amazon Studios, hit the market in April at a rumored $150 million price tag, The Real Deal reported. 

The completely leased property is a bright spot in Hackman’s portfolio, which includes a swath of distressed studio properties in L.A. and beyond.

In January, the firm defaulted on a $1 billion mortgage on the historic Radford Studio Center before losing it to a lender syndicate led by Goldman Sachs.

The studio reportedly sold to Netflix Inc. for $400 million.