Bob Chapek and Fred Unikel, The Walt Disney Company
Bob Chapek and Fred Unikel
CEO and senior portfolio manager at The Walt Disney Company
Before 2020, Disneyland had briefly closed just three times in its history: when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated; after the Northridge earthquake; and on 9/11. They were all single-day closures.
The fourth Disneyland closure came in March 2020. This time, it stayed closed for over a year, symbolizing for the region the challenges of the pandemic.
In 2019, the theme park drew 18.6 million visitors. But it’s not just about tourism: Disneyland is also the largest employer in Orange County, and Josh D’Amaro, chairman of Disney parks, experiences and products, said last year that almost 80,000 jobs depend on the resort — from the 572-acre Disneyland Resort and Disney California Adventure Park to the Disneyland Hotel and surrounding retail shopping locations.
But we also have to talk about the whole conglomeration business — the one that includes that $71.3 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox’s film and entertainment assets. Disney and its other household-name subsidiaries — like ABC, Hulu, Disney+, ESPN, and Fox — are some of the biggest drivers for office and studio real estate in Southern California. For example, Hulu continues to grow, and signed one of the biggest L.A.-area office leases of the year: 351,000 square feet at Boston Properties’ Colorado Center.
“As we celebrate the two-year anniversary of Disney+, we’re extremely pleased with the success of our streaming business, with 179 million total subscriptions across our [Disney’s] portfolio at the end of fiscal 2021, and 60 percent subscriber growth year-over-year for Disney+,” Walt Disney CEO Bob Chapek said.
For years, Walt Disney Studios and Walt Disney Animation Studios have been expanding in Burbank, which was far and away the top performing submarket since the pandemic hit. In late 2020, Disney renewed its lease for the entire 420,000-square-foot building on Alameda Avenue in Burbank. The property is part of a portfolio owned by Blackstone and Worthe Real Estate Groupthat also includes a 150,000-square-foot lease for Disney’s production arm.
Disney and ABC also lease more than 305,000 square feet at Hudson Pacific Properties’ Hollywood studio properties. — G.C.
