Jim Henson Co. made lots of news last week, with reports that the family entertainment business may be sold to a German company and an announcement that it plans to move to a new Hollywood home.
The company signed a 10-year lease for historical Charlie Chaplin Studios in Hollywood, where it plans to move in mid-April.
The development comes a few months after the late puppeteer Jim Henson’s five children who own the privately held family entertainment company purchased the five-acre La Brea Avenue compound for $12.5 million.
Ever since Jim Henson’s death in 1990, the company has been looking for a permanent Los Angeles home representative of its creative history. Henson will be moving from Raleigh Studios in Hollywood. About 120 employees work in the television, pictures and interactive divisions.
“When we heard the Chaplin lot was for sale, we had to have it,” Brian Henson, president and CEO, said in a statement. “It’s the perfect home for the Muppets and our particular brand of classy but eccentric entertainment.”
A spokeswoman declined to comment on reports that the company is in talks to sell part or all of its business to Germany’s EM. TV & Merchandising, and how, or if, that would affect its plans to move.
Jim Henson’s daughter Lisa described the Chaplin studios as a “lovable hodge-podge of quirky, unusual spaces. There are unexpected elements in some of the offices, like original vaults and fish-tank-like bathrooms. It’s not your typical corporate space, but it’s ideal for the Muppets.”
Plans are underway for a major renovation to the 80,000-square-foot facility, which includes the former A & M; Recording Studio and Chaplin’s 10,000-square-foot sound stage and original woodworking shop. Improvements will include landscaping, new brick pavers and paint palette and Muppet murals.
Charlie Chaplin opened his studios in 1918 and created such classics as “The Gold Rush” and “The Great Dictator” there. After 1953, various owners filmed television series at the three sound stages, including “Superman” and “The Red Skelton Show.”
Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss’ A & M; Record Co. and Tijuana Brass Enterprises bought the lot in 1966 and converted two sound stages and Chaplin’s swimming pool into a recording studio.
In 1969, the L.A. Cultural Heritage Board named the studio a historic cultural monument, which permanently protects certain buildings from alteration.
Since A & M;’s parent, PolyGram, was acquired by Seagram Co. in 1998, the merged unit has been selling surplus properties and consolidating at the Arboretum Gateway in Santa Monica.
The sale comes just four months after the American Academy of Dramatic Arts’ West Coast campus purchased the south lot of the studios, where it will move soon from Pasadena.
For the Henson property, Les Small and Mike Gottlieb of Entertainment Realty Inc. handled the deal for the family.
Manhattan Beach Deals
A slew of leases have been signed at Media Center at Raleigh Studios Manhattan Beach. The new, 60,000-square-foot, class-A office building sits on the Rosecrans Avenue lot where “Ally McBeal” and “The Practice” are filmed.
Satellite company Pan Am Sat took the top floor of the four-story building. Other tenants include Yahoo, Alpine Television, general contractor Snyder Langston, mortgage brokerage Buchanan Street Partners and MXG Media.
Those leases take the project to 95 percent leased, with the remaining 5 percent under negotiations, said Mark Rosenthal, president of Raleigh Enterprises. The project’s five-year, effective lease rates are $2.60 per square foot per month.
“We had to turn people away,” Rosenthal said. Some tenants are even leasing production office space in buildings adjacent to the stages.
Tenant improvements are underway at Media Center and the majority of tenants should move in within three months or so, Rosenthal said. An on-site commissary is also being developed.
“It really catered to and attracted a broad audience,” said Rob Waller of CB Richard Ellis, who served as one of the project’s leasing agents, along with John Ayoob and Bob Healey. “There’s a certain amount of cachet associated with being on a studio lot in a campus environment.”
No Hotel for Beverly Hills
The Beverly Hills City Council rejected a proposed 204-room luxury hotel by a 5-0 vote last week because members felt it was too large.
“Are we going to reduce the project? I don’t know. We have to look at the numbers,” said project manager Rudy Cole.
The council was pleased with the proposed hotel operator Rosewood Hotels and Resorts but felt the building was too tall, with too many rooms.
“Several council members said they would love to see the developer get together with the neighbors and see if they could redesign (the project),” said City Manager Mark Scott.
The $100 million project was proposed by property owner Bahador Mahboubi and would be operated by Rosewood, which once owned the Bel-Air Hotel and operates 16 luxury hotels and resorts around the world.
Apartments Planned
Retail developer Ira Smedra is partnering with apartment developer Casden Properties on his controversial Westwood project. The project will still have a retail component, including a Ralphs supermarket and potentially movie theaters, but it will also have about 300 market-rate apartments, said Darrell Levonian, president of Charles Dunn Co. He and Albert Shilton of Charles Dunn negotiated the Smedra-Casden deal.
“Casden is rolling forward with (Smedra’s) concept, plus changing some things Smedra had proposed,” Levonian said. Smedra is leading the retail side, while Casden spearheads the apartment component, he said.
Elsewhere on the apartment front, Trammell Crow Residential is building a $41 million apartment community on Walnut Street in Pasadena, on the former site of the Peppermill Restaurant. Called Alexan Cityplace, the 214-unit project will be located about 100 yards from a planned Blue Line station.
Elizabeth Hayes can be reached at (323) 549-5225, ext. 229, or at [email protected].
