Industry Dirt: March Madnesss

Come for the CRE news and updates, stay for the Netflix rumors (scroll down to Rumblings)🍿 and $1B Television City redevelopment drama.

-Ted Simpson

CRE NEWS AROUND TOWN

LEASING ACTIVITY

Miramax signed an office lease totaling 16,000 square feet for its new headquarters at The Lot at Formosa in West Hollywood. Miramax's new digs are about 40% smaller than the company's previous Los Angeles headquarters, a 27,000-square-foot space at 1901 Avenue of the Stars in Century City. Miramax's new neighborhood has lower rents than its current headquarters in Century City, where the average monthly asking rent is around $6.65 per square foot, nearly double the West Hollywood average. (source: Costar)

My client, Miraculous Corp, is moving from Main Street Santa Monica to Hollywood, leasing 5,838 RSF at 6115 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, also known as Columbia Square.

There’s nothing better than a front-row seat to figure out what’s really going on in an industry and submarket than actually helping your clients navigate their path there.

Here’s what I found…

TED’S TAKE

Firstly, an indie production company from France (Mediawan) is launching a new animation studio combining the original Zag into Miraculous, plus hiring Andy Yeatman from Moonbug to create a new company on the leading edge of streaming entertainment. As part of that, the new company is relocating to Hollywood and, in fact, the heart of the streaming industry directly across the street from Netflix and in a project, Columbia Square, housing Paramount Global. Columbia Square is a self-contained campus with NeueHouse, restaurants, and underground parking, creating a safe, amenitized work environment.

From a commercial real estate standpoint, the Hollywood office market has been plagued with high vacancies due to COVID, work-from-home, the various strikes, and the oversupply of content. Now, the market seems to be making a bounce off the bottom, and this deal is indicative of that.   

REAL ESTATE NEWS

Prologis has picked a lane for its redevelopment of the former Greyhound bus terminal near the Arts District Downtown. It will pursue a studio and office development at the southeast corner of Alameda and Seventh Street. The project is billed in planning documents published this month as a 364K SF "entertainment studio campus" with about 174K SF of soundstage uses, approximately 133K SF of office space to support the soundstages, and 57K SF of production-related space such as a mill for props and sets, a commissary and a cafe. (source: Bisnow)

In 2022, Technicolor opened a sprawling campus in Culver City to handle the growing demand for digital effects from streaming services. Now, the company is laying off 217 workers and permanently closing its Culver City studio on Lindblade Street, according to a notice filed with California‘s Employment Development Department on February 24th. It sounds crude, but this is a good subleasing opportunity. (source: LA Times)

Warner Bros.’ big spending plans for a Nevada studio lot complex takes a step back. Last August, Warner Bros. Discovery unveiled a plan to work with Birtcher Development and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on an ambitious proposal to develop, build and lease a studio lot complex in what was described as a long-term commitment for an $8.5 billion production spend in the state over the course of more than a decade.

That particular vision appears to have hit a speed bump as Warner Bros. confirms that it is no longer working with Birtcher on development of the sprawling studio complex that had been described as a game-changer for feature and television production in the state. However, the studio is said to be evaluating partners for a potential complex for what would be called Warner Bros. Studios Nevada but will be starting over with a new developer. (source: Hollywood Reporter)

OFFICE TOUR

6344 Fountain Ave, Los Angeles

Designed by renowned architect West of West, 6344 Fountain reimagines Hollywood’s storied past by blending new cross-laminated timber and steel construction with the adaptive reuse of a former Deluxe post-production facility, producing Hollywood’s hottest creative studio.

Anchored by Puma’s West Coast design studio, Virgin Music Group, and a coffee shop by Go Get Em Tiger, 6344 Fountain offers an inspiring environment to connect, collaborate and create.

There’s currently about 9,000 square feet available on the first and second floor, respectively (18,227 RSF in total). Let me know if you’d like a tour.

RUMBLINGS

🤞I’m sure everyone’s heard of the Expansion of California’s Film & TV Tax Credit Program. Here’s a quick summary, fingers crossed…

• Protect & bring back industry jobs leaving for other states/international locations.

• Governor Newsom’s Plans to increase film & TV tax credits from $330M to $750M annually. Two bills were introduced. As of March 14, 2025, the bills are “pending referral.” (source: Senate Committee Reports)

🍿 Netflix Reevaluates Los Angeles Office Space – Potential Relocation for Netflix?

• According to a Bloomberg article, Netflix is considering moving out of a group of Hollywood office buildings on Sunset Blvd, owned by Hudson Pacific Properties.

• However, Hudson Pacific Properties CEO, Victor Coleman, denied the article in a Citi Bank conference, Citi’s 2025 Global Property CEO Conference (see full comment below). 

• One of our sources commented, “Netflix info is a little harder to understand. There's definitely truth to it, but they still have several years on 1M SF of office lease and about 2 years on 600,000 SF of stages, so it would be a very costly move even if they didn't need as much space."

• So we did some further investigation… Seems like Netflix is interested in consolidating under one roof. They have approximately 1.5M square feet of space in Hollywood. They lost out to Warner Ranch in Burbank (WB took it). Signs point to Hackman at TV City as a potential site. Netflix's lease runs until 2031.
  
  Here's Victor Coleman’s full comment:
  
  "I don’t know where the story came from, neither does Netflix and neither do their brokers. I spoke to the CFO of Netflix Saturday and the head of real estate on Friday. We are negotiating with Netflix right now on an expansion. Who writes a story that says a tenant is moving out in 6 years and 7 months and then in the same story says they can buy the asset. I mean it's a very conflicting story when the writer of the story, Bloomberg, called our comms desk and said you need to comment on it. We said what's the rush? It's 6 years and 7 months and this story is not accurate. Somebody wanted a puff piece to try and get to Hudson and it wasn’t Netflix, wasn't us and wasn’t the broker so you can assume who it is, but it clearly isn’t anyone with any factual knowledge. Netflix is happy with us and we are very happy with them. We are in conversations on extending and expanding and we’ve had multiple conversations about other sites."

 👀 Television City Redevelopment Lawsuit – Key Notes & Quotes

• Lawsuit Filed

  • Rick Caruso's The Grove filed a lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles & Hackman Capital Partners (Hackman) over the $1B Television City redevelopment.

  • Lawsuit claims the city's approval violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

  • Concerns include increased traffic, parking issues, and environmental impacts.

  • Source: Commercial Observer

• Caruso’s Position

  • While Caruso previously criticized CEQA misuse, he is now using it to challenge the project.

  • Calls the redevelopment "frustratingly undefined" regarding environmental effects.

  • Caruso quote: “The city has failed to properly assess the environmental impacts of this massive development.”

  • Source: The Real Deal

• Additional Legal Challenges

  • Other lawsuits were filed by A.F. Gilmore Company (Original Farmers Market owner) and community groups (Save Beverly Fairfax & Beverly Wilshire Homes Association).

  • Aim to overturn project approval based on similar concerns.

  • Source: Commercial Observer

• Hackman’s Response

  • Hackman’s Senior VP Zach Sokoloff criticizes lawsuits, calling them “an abuse of CEQA.”

  • Notes broad support from business, labor, environmental groups, and the local community.

  • Hackman quote: “This project represents a much-needed investment in Hollywood’s production infrastructure, and we are committed to seeing it through.”

  • Source: The Real Deal

Thanks for reading. If you want me to look into something or have some ideas for the newsletter, let me know, and I’ll get right back to you.

Ted Simpson
Founder and CEO
Commercial Real Estate Advisors
(c) +1 310.384.6512 |(e) [email protected]
CA DRE License #0109718

P.S. Whenever you’re ready, here are 3 ways I can help you with your real estate.

1. A new home for your business. So, you want to move, but you don’t know the market. I can help.

2. Time to renew your lease? Don’t quite trust your landlord? Consider me your personal polygraph. BTW, I recommend starting the lease renewal process six months out at a minimum.

3. Sublease your space. You’ve outgrown your space and need to move but don’t want to pay two rents? I got you.