A developer announced plans Monday to build a studio facility with 16 soundtracks in the heart of Los Angeles’ arts district.
East End Studios has submitted a request to construct the facility, which also includes four office buildings, on a 15-acre site at the corner of 6th Street and Alameda Avenue. come ad in the middle of a boom in developing new production facilities in Los Angeles, to keep pace with the demand fueled by television and live broadcasting services.
The East End project is expected to take about four years to complete – two years for development approvals and two years for construction.
Paul Audley, FilmLA’s president, said he hopes the project – and others in the planning stages – will move quickly. In the past, he said, Los Angeles has faced runaway production due to tax incentives in other states and nations. But he said the concern now is that production will run away because there is not enough production space.
“We are dealing with an international competition,” he said. “Even on a local level, other jurisdictions are ahead of Los Angeles in adding a new high-tech space. Our concern is that we might be left behind.”
The Arts District site currently operates two product warehouses. The neighborhood is home to some of the city’s best restaurants—including Bestia, Bavel, and Kato—and the studio project is located blocks from the new 6th Street Bridge and from the downtown Soho House site.
“We fully believe there is demand going forward,” said Chip Wainwright, Managing Partner of East End Studios. “The Los Angeles Arts District is on its way to becoming the next media hub.”
Atlas Capital Group also Planning to build six audio platforms On nearby 8th and Alameda Streets, the location of the Los Angeles Times Press. This project will eventually expand to 17 sound theatres.
Blackhall Studios is planning another facility in Santa Clarita. Other projects in progress include Echelon Studios, the Television City redevelopment, Sunset Glenoaks, and the redevelopment of the Warner Bros. farm.
In 2021, California passed a $150 million incentive program for projects filmed on newly built audio platforms. Wainwright said the incentive was not taken into account in the decision to build the Arts District project – and it’s possible that money will run out before the project opens.
East End Studios is already developing four more studio projects – two in Glendale, one in Los Angeles and one in New York. One of Glendale’s projects is now under construction. The Arts District building will be by far the largest, with a total area of 720,400 square feet, including 321,520 square feet of studio space.
“We’re very focused on locations that are directly in the TMZ Center,” Wainwright said, referring to the Thirty Mile area around Hollywood.
Wainwright said the arts district project will have about 1,000 jobs. The architect envisioned the project as a “campus at the top”, with outside balconies where creative professionals could work, and overlooking the base camps and production space below.
The project will also include 1,327 parking spaces – a major asset since neighbors of production facilities often complain when filming workers stand on residential streets.
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