Echelon Studios
Hollywood’s appeal continues to grow. The iconic area no longer only appeals to aspiring actors and tourists, but has also attracted big companies like Netflix. The developers are right behind them with plans to add sound stages and large mixed-use real estate projects.
KEY PROJECTS
Hollywood center
Location: Hollywood and Vine
Description: The mixed-use project will comprise 903 residential units, of which 770 are apartments at market prices and 133 apartments for senior citizens. The senior housing component is a partnership with the Menorah Housing Foundation. Upon completion, the project will also have nearly 386,000 square meters of creative office space and 27,000 square meters of restaurant and retail space.
Developer: Los Angeles MP
Architect: Handel employee
Estimated completion date: NA
The star
Location: Sunset Boulevard and Gower Street
Description: When completed, the $ 500 million creative office campus will be a 22-story tower. It will have sky gardens, a cable car, a rooftop restaurant and event rooms.
Developer: Star, a family-run limited liability company managed by Chinese investor and real estate agent Maggie Gong Miracle
Architect: MAD Architects
Estimated Closing Date: 2026
Whiskey hotel
Location: 1717 Wilcox Avenue.
Description: The hotel under construction will have 134 hotel rooms upon completion. The whiskey-themed hotel will have a minibar stocked with whiskey and a whiskey fountain in the lobby.
Developer: Adolfo Suaya
Architects: Roschen Van Cleve Architects and Christoph Kapeller from CK-Architecture
Estimated completion date: 2022
Hollywood intersection
Location: 6671 Sunset Boulevard.
Description: The $ 1 billion mega development will incorporate the existing Crossroads of the World and add nine new buildings, including a 308-room hotel, 950 apartment units and 190,000 square feet of commercial space. It will cover 8 hectares.
Developer: Harridge Development Group
Architects: Skidmore Owings & Merrill and Rios Inc.
Estimated Closing Date: 2025, some stages will open earlier. The project has been the subject of numerous lawsuits that could cause delays.
HOLLYWOOD IN NUMBERS
OFFICE
(Hollywood-Wilshire-Corridor, from Q3)
Direct vacancy: 22.2%
Rental rate: $ 3.65 per square foot
Net Absorption: -96,862 square feet
Gross Rental Activity: 156,000 square feet
Source: CBRE Group Inc.
RETAIL (Hollywood-Silverlake, from Q3)
Inventory: 629,544 square feet
Total vacancy: 20,299 square meters
Vacancy rate: 3.2%
Net intake: 1,830 square feet
Source: CBRE Group Inc.
MULTIPLE FAMILIES
12-month units supplied: 1,464
12 month absorption units: 2,720
Vacancy rate: 6.9%
Asking rent growth 12 months: 5.8%
Source: Colliers International Group Inc.
HOTELS
Under construction:
New Los Angeles,
Hyatt Unbound
64 rooms
Whiskey hotel
134 rooms
Tommie Hotel
212 rooms
Source: Atlas Hospitality Group
5 questions for David Simon
One Hollywood-based developer is David Simon, founder and managing director of West Hollywood-based Bardas Investment Group, which, together with partner Bain Capital, is planning a $ 450 million project to build Echelon Studios in a former home Sears business has presented.
The 5-acre site will have four 19,000-square-foot sound stages, a 15,000-square-foot flex stage and 93,000-square-foot bungalows in a creative village. The project also includes 370,000 square feet of creative office space.
Bardas Investment Group has more than 1 million square feet of projects in Hollywood.
Simon previously served as an executive at Kilroy Realty Corp. based in Sawtelle, where he was responsible for the company’s LA portfolio, including the Columbia Square Media Campus in Hollywood.
Simon spoke to the Business Journal about Echelon Studios and Hollywood.
Why are you interested in Hollywood?
I’ve been interested in Hollywood for many years. I think it was 20, 25 years ago when I made my first deal in Hollywood to keep CNN and get the CNN building. I always knew that Hollywood was a special place in the city. It’s a worldwide brand.
How did Echelon Studios come about?
It was really important to focus on how people – and especially the creative community – want to use the space, especially in a post-Covid world. We found this site and started thinking about the possibility of creating this urban studio environment. … Given the size of the particular site and the geography of the site, we are able to provide these (four) great sound stages with adequate base camp, production support room, bungalow room and really all the elements of a studio lot on a 5 acre campus. … And the demand for content creation, as we all know, has grown incredibly, and to the extent that we can help create those environments and keep the people in Hollywood, that’s where it comes from .
What makes something the right project for you?
Location is always the key to success in any type of property investment and development. Sure, the costs are really going up now, building costs, so one hopes that the prices will level off.
Echelon Studios will be housed in a former Sears store. Are you hoping for further conversions and basic developments at former retail locations?
The advantage of retail locations, and you see it everywhere, is that large malls are being remodeled … (is) they are usually very large retail locations so you have lots of land and lots of development opportunities. They usually have a lot of parking space, which is important.
How do you see the future of Hollywood?
Things have been going in the right direction over the past 20 years, but when a recession comes and slows down there are always problems and homelessness problems are everywhere in the city. But I think since the entertainment and content creation businesses are really based in Los Angeles … Hollywood has a great opportunity to get its fair share of the city because of the pre-existing ecosystem, studios and proximity to talent.
Putting the right parcels together and putting the land together is always difficult and, having worked and invested in development in and around Los Angeles for the past 25 years, you can develop and (and form) many great relationships put together great projects. We are optimistic and think that this space in the real estate sector in the area of content and media tech will really be there for a while.
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