Two of Los Angeles’ most recognizable studio properties are now at the center of a growing real estate and production crisis, as lenders move in on assets owned by Hackman Capital Partners amid a sharp slowdown in local filming.
A lender group led by Deutsche Bank has begun the process that could lead to the sale of Television City, the historic former CBS lot on Fairfax Avenue, after more than $357 million in debt came due on the property, according to a notice of default. At the same time, Manhattan Beach Studios, another Hackman-owned property, is reportedly fielding offers, including from an industrial buyer that may not keep its 15 soundstages intact.
Together, the two situations point to a deeper question now facing the studio real estate business: when production falls, debt becomes more expensive and land values remain high, is a soundstage still the best use of some of the most valuable land in Los Angeles?
Hackman spent much of the last decade building one of the world’s largest studio portfolios, acquiring production campuses across Los Angeles, New York, Canada, the U.K. and Ireland. The strategy made sense during the streaming boom, when platforms were racing to secure stages, production offices and support space for an expanding pipeline of scripted series and films.
But the market shifted quickly. Streamers began prioritizing profitability over volume. The writers and actors strikes halted production. Studios cut spending. And Los Angeles production levels, especially in television, fell dramatically from their peak.
That downturn has exposed the pressure on highly leveraged studio assets.
Television City is especially significant. Hackman bought the property in 2019 for $750 million and pursued a major modernization plan for the storied lot. But the property sits in the middle of the city, next to The Grove and the Original Farmers Market, on one of the most valuable pieces of land in Los Angeles. That makes the site both culturally important and financially complicated.
For a buyer, Television City is not simply a production facility. It is a landmark studio campus in a prime urban corridor that could support multiple visions: continued studio use, entertainment experiences, mixed-use development, retail, hospitality or some combination of those categories.
Rick Caruso, owner of The Grove, has long been viewed as a natural potential buyer. Any acquisition, however, would likely be complicated by the property’s history, its production infrastructure and the political sensitivity of redeveloping a Hollywood landmark.
Manhattan Beach Studios presents a different but equally revealing case. Hackman acquired the 22-acre campus in 2019 for $650 million. The property is a known production facility, but its location near El Segundo, North Orange County and major aerospace and defense corridors may make it attractive for industrial or logistics uses. If an industrial buyer sees more value in the land than in the stages, that is a clear warning sign for the broader market.
The situation follows other setbacks for Hackman. The company recently lost Radford Studio Center in Studio City to foreclosure, and Deutsche Bank has also filed a foreclosure complaint against Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens. Those properties, like Television City, are historic production campuses caught in a changing financial environment.
Still, the pressure on Hackman does not necessarily mean the studio market is collapsing. The more accurate read may be that the market is splitting.
Premium assets with strong tenants, favorable locations, tax incentives and diversified use cases may continue to perform. Culver Studios, for example, is supported by a long-term lease with Amazon and sits in one of Los Angeles’ strongest entertainment and technology hubs. That kind of tenant demand can protect a studio asset even when the broader production market softens.
Other properties may be more vulnerable, particularly if they carry heavy debt, lack committed tenants or sit on land that could be more valuable for another purpose.
That is the new reality for soundstage real estate. The old assumption that production demand would keep rising indefinitely has been replaced by a more selective market, where each property must justify itself on its own economics.
Location matters. Incentives matter. Tenant demand matters. Debt structure matters. And increasingly, so does flexibility.
The studio lot of the future may need to be more than a collection of stages. It may need to support production, live events, virtual production, creator content, brand activations, postproduction, hospitality and other revenue streams that keep the campus active even when scripted production slows.
Television City and Manhattan Beach Studios now sit at the center of that shift. One is a historic urban studio lot beside one of L.A.’s most successful retail destinations. The other is a production campus near industrial and defense corridors. Both are valuable. But their futures may depend on whether production remains valuable enough to compete with everything else the land could become.
That is the bigger story now unfolding in Los Angeles: the soundstage business is no longer just about stages. It is about whether studio real estate can still make the strongest economic case in a city where land, capital and production have all become harder to align.
Two of Los Angeles’ most recognizable studio properties are now at the center of a growing real estate and production crisis, as lenders move in on assets owned by Hackman Capital Partners amid a sharp slowdown in local filming.
A lender group led by Deutsche Bank has begun the process that could lead to the sale of Television City, the historic former CBS lot on Fairfax Avenue, after more than $357 million in debt came due on the property, according to a notice of default. At the same time, Manhattan Beach Studios, another Hackman-owned property, is reportedly fielding offers, including from an industrial buyer that may not keep its 15 soundstages intact.
Together, the two situations point to a deeper question now facing the studio real estate business: when production falls, debt becomes more expensive and land values remain high, is a soundstage still the best use of some of the most valuable land in Los Angeles?
Hackman spent much of the last decade building one of the world’s largest studio portfolios, acquiring production campuses across Los Angeles, New York, Canada, the U.K. and Ireland. The strategy made sense during the streaming boom, when platforms were racing to secure stages, production offices and support space for an expanding pipeline of scripted series and films.
But the market shifted quickly. Streamers began prioritizing profitability over volume. The writers and actors strikes halted production. Studios cut spending. And Los Angeles production levels, especially in television, fell dramatically from their peak.
That downturn has exposed the pressure on highly leveraged studio assets.
Television City is especially significant. Hackman bought the property in 2019 for $750 million and pursued a major modernization plan for the storied lot. But the property sits in the middle of the city, next to The Grove and the Original Farmers Market, on one of the most valuable pieces of land in Los Angeles. That makes the site both culturally important and financially complicated.
For a buyer, Television City is not simply a production facility. It is a landmark studio campus in a prime urban corridor that could support multiple visions: continued studio use, entertainment experiences, mixed-use development, retail, hospitality or some combination of those categories.
Rick Caruso, owner of The Grove, has long been viewed as a natural potential buyer. Any acquisition, however, would likely be complicated by the property’s history, its production infrastructure and the political sensitivity of redeveloping a Hollywood landmark.
Manhattan Beach Studios presents a different but equally revealing case. Hackman acquired the 22-acre campus in 2019 for $650 million. The property is a known production facility, but its location near El Segundo, North Orange County and major aerospace and defense corridors may make it attractive for industrial or logistics uses. If an industrial buyer sees more value in the land than in the stages, that is a clear warning sign for the broader market.
The situation follows other setbacks for Hackman. The company recently lost Radford Studio Center in Studio City to foreclosure, and Deutsche Bank has also filed a foreclosure complaint against Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens. Those properties, like Television City, are historic production campuses caught in a changing financial environment.
Still, the pressure on Hackman does not necessarily mean the studio market is collapsing. The more accurate read may be that the market is splitting.
Premium assets with strong tenants, favorable locations, tax incentives and diversified use cases may continue to perform. Culver Studios, for example, is supported by a long-term lease with Amazon and sits in one of Los Angeles’ strongest entertainment and technology hubs. That kind of tenant demand can protect a studio asset even when the broader production market softens.
Other properties may be more vulnerable, particularly if they carry heavy debt, lack committed tenants or sit on land that could be more valuable for another purpose.
That is the new reality for soundstage real estate. The old assumption that production demand would keep rising indefinitely has been replaced by a more selective market, where each property must justify itself on its own economics.
Location matters. Incentives matter. Tenant demand matters. Debt structure matters. And increasingly, so does flexibility.
The studio lot of the future may need to be more than a collection of stages. It may need to support production, live events, virtual production, creator content, brand activations, postproduction, hospitality and other revenue streams that keep the campus active even when scripted production slows.
Television City and Manhattan Beach Studios now sit at the center of that shift. One is a historic urban studio lot beside one of L.A.’s most successful retail destinations. The other is a production campus near industrial and defense corridors. Both are valuable. But their futures may depend on whether production remains valuable enough to compete with everything else the land could become.
That is the bigger story now unfolding in Los Angeles: the soundstage business is no longer just about stages. It is about whether studio real estate can still make the strongest economic case in a city where land, capital and production have all become harder to align.
