The longest-operating film studio in Los Angeles is now for sale—offering not just a rare slice of industry real estate, but a stark test of the current demand for production space in Hollywood’s post-strike reset.

Occidental Studios, a 3-acre gated campus nestled in Echo Park, is being listed for $45 million. The storied lot—originally built in 1913 and once home to silent film icons Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks—has remained a quiet workhorse through the studio system, the cable boom, and the streaming era. Now, it enters the open market at a time when the city’s soundstage occupancy has dropped to just 63%, a dramatic slide from the 93% range held between 2016 and 2022, per FilmLA.

“It’s private, it’s intimate, and it’s functional,” says Occidental CEO Craig Darian, calling it “Old Hollywood at its best.”

Despite a string of headwinds—including shifting content strategies, a historic labor strike, and rising competition from Georgia, Canada, and the U.K.—Occidental Studios has remained active. Recent credits include New Girl, Sharp Objects, and Made for Love, while its four soundstages (including a newly built 15,000-square-foot space with a 45-foot clear height) continue to host commercials, prestige cable shoots, and live events.

Still, Darian admits the listing reflects a shift: “We’re service providers, not content creators. And this property deserves to be in the hands of someone who will push its creative potential forward.”

A Legacy Property With Modern Appeal

Broker Nicole Mihalka of CBRE, who is overseeing the sale, says the lot is the only studio property of its size currently available for sale or lease in Los Angeles. The site includes postproduction suites, a basecamp, parking, production offices, and on-site casting bungalows—making it a turnkey production environment, a significant advantage in an era where building from scratch can take years and cost double.

Mihalka points to robust early interest from content creators, streamers, and tech companies alike. “It’s rare to find this combination of history and flexibility. This is a working lot that’s still doing what it was built to do.”

A Centurial Backlot of Innovation

Occidental’s place in cinema history is secure. The studio once housed the early work of Cecil B. DeMille, and served as a key location for the founding members of United Artists. Over the decades, it evolved into a nimble production hub, offering a close-in alternative to warehouse-style soundstages farther from the Thirty Mile Zone.

Even as the Hollywood production landscape continues to shift, Occidental has kept pace. One of its more recent additions—Stage One, a four-story, 20,000-square-foot production building—opened in 2011 at a cost of $9 million and was purpose-built for contemporary content workflows, from script to screen.

“There could be 300 people working here on any given day,” says studio president Ricky Stoutland. “Writers are breaking episodes, editors are cutting dailies, and a stage is being flipped while another one shoots.”

A Sale Reflecting an Industry in Transition

While the $45 million price tag—roughly $651 per square foot—may feel lofty for some real estate investors (especially when compared to the $489 per square foot price fetched by Henson Studios last year), Darian argues that the infrastructure and zoning already in place are worth a premium.

“It’s not distressed,” he says. “It’s a generational asset ready for its next act.”

That next act may come as Los Angeles fights to hold on to its crown as the global production capital. Mayor Karen Bass has fast-tracked permitting and opened city landmarks to crews. And Sacramento legislators are weighing expansions to California’s tax credit program in an attempt to keep high-value productions in-state.

Yet new players—from Stan Kroenke’s studio campus near SoFi Stadium to out-of-state megastages—are reshaping the production map.

“This is an existential moment for the industry,” Darian says. “But we still believe that Los Angeles, with its legacy, talent pool, and creative spirit, will always be the place where content begins.”