Hackman Capital Partners and Square Mile Capital have reached an agreement to buy CBS Studio Center in the Studio City neighborhood of Los Angeles for $1.8B, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter. The deal hasn't been finalized yet.
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ViacomCBS, the seller of CBS Studio Center, began exploring the possibility of a sale earlier this year, hiring JLL for that purpose. The company had already sold other production facilities, which it considered noncore assets, to focus on producing content for streaming services.
CBS Studio Center includes 18 soundstages and over 210K SF of supporting office space on 40 acres. The facility has many exterior locations as well, including three permanent sets: a New York street, Central Park and a residential street.
The facility had its start in the silent era, when director Mack Sennett founded a studio on the site of a former lettuce farm and an adjacent ranch. During the mid-20th century, it was a movie studio. In the 1960s, CBS leased the facility mainly for TV production, including such shows as Gunsmoke, Gilligan's Island, Get Smart and The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
In 1982, a JV of CBS and 20th Century Fox Film acquired the studio. Eventually, CBS acquired the entirety of the property, and TV and movie production has continued there since. Some of the more recent shows filmed there include CSI: NY, The Talk, Hot in Cleveland and Will & Grace.
Hackman and Square Mile have been avid investors in studio space. Earlier this month, they acquired Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens. The home of Paramount Pictures in the early 20th century, the property includes 500K SF of production space, 11 soundstages and 325K SF of office. Before that, the duo paid $500M for Silvercup Studios, which has properties in Queens and the Bronx.
Other investors are snapping up studio properties as well. TPG Real Estate Partners on Friday announced its acquisition of Cinespace Studios in Chicago and Toronto, which have a total of 56 stages, for a reported $1.1B. Harbor Group International bought the CBS Building in Midtown Manhattan, also known as Black Rock, for $760M in August.
