Hollywood’s streaming era is booming, and investment in Los Angeles’ entertainment machine continues to soar.
Fox Corporation has announced plans to significantly expand the historic Fox Studio Lot in Century City, which birthed productions from “Sound of Music” to “The Simpsons,” and is home to popular programs like “Fox NFL Sunday” and “MLB on Fox.” The company filed plans with the city on Wednesday to build two office towers and add more soundstages and production facilities for an estimated $1.5 billion investment.
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Fox’s plans would increase the existing lot by approximately 1.6 million square feet. Lachlan Murdoch, son of Rupert Murdoch and the CEO of Fox, said the proposal represents a “long-term commitment to our industry, to our community, and to the city of Los Angeles.”
“The Fox Studio Lot is one of the most iconic and treasured production locations in the history of entertainment and is a rich part of our history,” Lachlan Murdoch said. The Murdochs’ Fox Corporation retained the lot in Century City, as well as Fox News, Fox Sports and Fox Entertainment, when Disney bought most of 21st Century Fox in 2019 for $71.3 billion.
Fox said it might “seek a development partner” for the office tower with 35 floors of workspace and seven floors of parking at the northeast portion of the lot along Avenue of the Stars. The second tower would rise 24 floors on Olympic Boulevard. The plan also calls for nine new soundstages, bringing the total to 24.
As evidence of the persistent demand for production space, Fox announced its plan weeks after Hackman Capital Partners announced a $1 billion plan to modernize the 55-acre Radford Studio Center in L.A.’s Studio City.
Although office leasing has foundered throughout most of Los Angeles amid a wave of remote work, Century City remains the strongest and most expensive submarket, significantly outperforming county averages. Office availability — which is the sum of vacant, soon-to-be vacant, and sublease space — is under 17 percent in Century City, well below the 26.1 percent average for L.A. County.
Gregory Cornfield can be reached at gcornfield@commercialobserver.com.
