At just a few years shy of 100, Radford Studio Center in Studio City is one of the oldest studios in Los Angeles.
The 22-stage campus has been home to hundreds of productions – including major sitcoms such as “Seinfeld,” “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and “That ’70s Show” – but, with its tenure, comes a series of aging complications, too.
“(Many of) the stages were built before the Great Depression,” Zach Sokoloff, a senior vice president at Culver City-based real estate developer Hackman Capital Partners, the studio’s owner, and asset manager of the property, says. “That legacy seeps into every inch of the studio, and you can feel it – you feel the celebrities, the personalities who have called this lot home for some period of time, but you also walk around it, and you realize that it needs a little bit of TLC.”
Hackman, in partnership with San Antonio- and New York-based Affinius Capital, purchased the storied campus formerly known as CBS Studio Center for a whopping $1.85 billion from Paramount Global in 2021. Following the sale, Hackman and its affiliate Manhattan Beach-based studio management firm The MBS Group rebranded the studio to be Radford and announced a $1 billion redevelopment plan to modernize and expand its amenities – an effort it says is necessary to bring the studio into its next century of life.
“The studio grew episodically over the course of its history, kind of expanding in concentric circles,” Sokoloff says, referring to both the various eras of filming, as well as ownership changes, that pushed Radford’s growth in reactive directions over the years. “I think what we’re able to do now as the next steward of the studio is really devise a master plan that allows us to modernize the facilities (and) allows us to make building footprints a little more efficient.”
What’s being proposed
Known as the Radford Studio Center Plan, the proposal provides a comprehensive framework for the studio’s redevelopment, designed to meet the needs of the evolving entertainment industry and keep jobs local.
“100 years ago, movies didn’t have sound,” Sam Glendon, a senior vice president at CBRE Group Inc. specializing in industrial, soundstage and office properties, says. “A lot has changed in that world over the last century and productions today have very different needs from what they had even a couple of decades ago. Older stages, even purpose-built stages, in many ways, don’t work for today’s production.”
While Radford can accommodate every kind of production, from talk and variety shows to scripted series and feature films, Glendon says modern sets now demand more grandiose amenities – including high ceilings, clear span stages, heavy roof structures to support ample camera and lighting gear, as well as adequate production support nearby – all of which Hackman is planning to accommodate if the plan is approved, likely early next year.
Designed by New York-based architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Hackman is proposing 1 million net new square feet to be built on campus, all within the existing footprint of its 55-acre triangular lot.
By emphasizing cohesiveness, the firm is hoping to consolidate its support offices, which it says will increase both the adaptability and accessibility of production.
The plan includes the capacity to accommodate roughly 20 to 25 purpose-built soundstages, all of which will span a minimum of 18,000 square feet and many of which will have retractable doors in between. Sokoloff says offices and mills will be laminated to the sides of soundstages and new general office space will be built to support a more dynamic content creation ecosystem.
“Proximity is something that is really valuable for our customers,” Sokoloff says. “As we look to the future, it’s not just about building as much as you can.
It’s about building a product that our customers will respond to, that services their needs and that, ultimately, will keep them coming back.”
Still preserving its legacy
But due to its beloved past, Hackman says the decision to redevelop was not necessarily a light one.
“The only thing people love more than Hollywood is Old Hollywood,” Sokoloff laughs.
He says Hackman is working with the Los Angeles Conservancy and the broader preservationist community in Los Angeles to identify which structures and amenities hold significance and how Hackman can best preserve the campus, staying sensitive to its legacy while also updating obsolete portions.
Sokoloff says several significant stages will remain intact, as well as the Mack Sennet building — which he says is really the heart of the initial campus — and multiple other buildings from famous architects or various historic filming eras.
“We have obligations to our customers. We have to adapt and meet the market where it is, and I think we arrived at a really fantastic balance of honoring the existing and historic structures on the lot and paving the way for a modernized, sustainable, technology-infused studio of the future,” Sokoloff says.
Once completed, Radford is expected to be the largest all-electric studio in Los Angeles and boast sustainable features such as EV charging stations, solar panels, efficient lighting, water irrigation, enhanced greenery and mobility hubs. Sokoloff says the redesign will promote indoor and outdoor connectivity and return landscaping back to campus.
Keeping Hollywood close
Hackman’s redevelopment proposal comes at an extra vulnerable time for Hollywood – characterized by the rise of runaway production in light of generous tax incentives offered by out-of-state, and even out-of-country, locations.
Between 2015 and 2020, California lost out on nearly $8 billion in economic activity, 28,000 jobs and over $350 million in revenue due to productions opting to film elsewhere, according to a 2022 report by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.
But it may not be the tax incentives alone responsible for luring productions to shoot outside Los Angeles.
“I think one of the main headwinds Los Angeles is facing, in terms of attracting and retaining production here, is just having functional product,” Glendon says. “If you look at Atlanta or filming markets like London, there are substantial state-of-the-art campuses in areas like those that we’re competing against. And a lot of the legacy properties like this one, don’t have the same features.”
Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed $750 million in annual film tax credits – which would more than double the size of California’s film tax incentive program – a major stride to attract and retain local production.
For Sokoloff and Glendon, the proposed tax credit, coupled with Radford’s proposed redevelopment plan, will surely play a role in keeping Hollywood intact.
“Our elected officials and leaders at the state and city level are trying to do their part by bringing these incentives to productions who want to film in California and making it cheaper to do so,” Sokoloff says. “What we’re trying to accomplish with the Radford project is to provide modern soundstages to accommodate those productions when they decide to film in Los Angeles. It’s really a team effort. We’re grateful for their leadership and we hope that a studio like Radford can be the beneficiary of all those productions that decide to stay and film here.”
Economic and community impact
But beyond its intended impact on the entertainment industry, Radford’s redevelopment is poised to spur major economic growth in the southern San Fernando Valley region as a whole – specifically Studio City, its neighborhood which was directly named in honor of the studio.
“This is a studio that’s been around for forever,” Stuart Waldman, president of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association, says. “They create a lot of great jobs that are important to the Valley. When you look back on the history of this property, it has done so much and so many of the middle-class jobs in the Valley came from people working around there.
“The upgrades are going to create new economic opportunity,” Waldman adds. “There’s going to be over $2 billion in economic output once during construction and I think $5.5 billion annually and over 8,000 new jobs on site.”
In March, the neighborhood council voted to approve the project – with many nearby business owners stating that the success of Radford directly feeds their own lines of business and, the busier the campus, the better for them, particularly for those located off Ventura Boulevard.
In addition to upgrading the production facilities, Hackman’s proposition includes plans which will enhance overall mobility and circulation of the campus, as well as activate the Los Angeles River – which Radford intersects with.
Radford is proposing to bridge the missing leg of the bicycle and pedestrian path at Radford Avenue next to the Tujunga Wash, opening full access to the path. It also plans to restore a shuttered gate at Carpenter Avenue and is proposing a new studio entrance off Moorpark Street, which it says will improve efficiency and overall navigation of the lot.
Timeline of approval
Hackman submitted its entitlement application for the redevelopment in February 2023, when its plans were first released. Its draft environmental impact report was published in late January, which triggered a 60-day public comment period that closed on April 1.
Based on that feedback, Hackman is working to put together a final environmental impact report, at which point, it will commence the official city hearing process and will go through a series of hearings to seek project approval.
While Sokoloff couldn’t provide an estimate as to when the hearing process would likely begin, he indicates that once construction breaks ground, the project will likely take around three years and be completed in one phase.
“Ultimately, the cadence of construction will be driven a lot by market dynamics and demand for the space … We’d love to get through this process as fast as possible,” he says. “We hear customers every day who are wanting to film in Los Angeles. And if we can make it a little bit more price competitive, if we can provide space that is modern, that embodies the essence of the Southern California lifestyle, we think that the entertainment industry is poised for a real comeback here in Los Angeles.”
