Hackman’s Television City Heads Toward Sale as Studio Distress Grips Hollywood

Television City, a landmark studio in Los Angeles that has been home to productions ranging from “The Price Is Right” to “American Idol,” is poised to hit the market in another blow to owner and studio mogul Hackman Capital Partners (HCP).

A lender group led by Deutsche Bank filed a notice of default last month alleging Hackman owes more than $357 million on the 25-acre property in the Fairfax District, according to the Los Angeles Times. The default follows months of negotiations between Hackman and its lenders as the company weighs alternatives, and it’s another marquee studio property in HCP’s industry-leading portfolio to fall into distress.

“As an owner of studio assets in multiple U.S. and international markets, we have seen firsthand how Los Angeles studio real estate faces significant pressure from high production costs and uncompetitive tax incentives,” HCP said in a statement shared with Commercial Observer. “Television City is a local treasure, home to decades of iconic productions, and we remain in active discussions with our lending partners as we carefully evaluate all alternatives available for its future.”

It’s also the latest chapter in the unraveling of the industry’s bet that streaming would fuel an expansion and an extension of studio real estate demand.

Culver City-based HCP over the past decade assembled the largest portfolio of studio properties, including a 2019 deal for $750 million to acquire Television City with its partner Affinius Capital (formerly Square Mile Capital) from CBS. HCP also planned a roughly $1 billion redevelopment that would add nearly 1 million square feet of offices, soundstages, production facilities and retail.

But show business, and HCP’s portfolio, were significantly hamstrung by the post-pandemic slowdown, the 2023 writers and actors strikes, rising interest rates and studio consolidation. Earlier this year, Goldman Sachs took control of the 1.2 million-square-foot Radford Studio Center — where HCP also planned a $1 billion addition with another 1 million square feet of soundstage space — after the firm defaulted on a $1.1 billion mortgage. The property is now under contract to be sold to Netflix for roughly $400 million, a fraction of the nearly $1.9 billion Hackman and its partners paid in 2021. 

Meanwhile, Deutsche Bank has also been marketing HCP’s Manhattan Beach Studios, and has moved against other Hackman-backed assets in L.A. and New York.

Television City borders Caruso’s The Grove and the Original Farmers Market, and sources familiar with the process told the L.A. Times that Rick Caruso and the Gilmore family could emerge as potential bidders.

Gregory Cornfield can be reached at gcornfield@commercialobserver.com.

UPDATE: This story has been updated since it was first published to include commentary from Hackman Capital Partners.