Hollywood’s Television Center Getting $600 Million Makeover

A 620,000-square-foot urban studio campus to be called the Echelon Television Center, will transform the site of the former Technicolor and Metro Pictures headquarters, the project’s developer said Thursday.

Bardas Investment Group and Bain Capital Real Estate are investing $600 million in the 6.4-acre property on 6311 Romaine Street, one of the largest development sites in Hollywood. New contemporary offices and state-of-the-art production facilities will span two city blocks. Echelon is bordered by Santa Monica Boulevard to the north, Cahuenga Boulevard to the East, Willoughby Avenue to the South and Cole Avenue to the West.

The existing facility, developed between 1930 and 1966, currently offers 183,000 square feet of office and studio space.

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The partners said the new master plan will also reimagine many of the property’s distinctive buildings constructed during Technicolor’s golden age. On the northern block, the original art-deco facade will enclose an active studio lot, bookended by a new mid-rise creative office building with ample private outdoor terraces framing views of the Hollywood Hills. New construction will replace a parking lot and two dilapidated buildings on Santa Monica Boulevard. On the southern block of the campus, four large soundstages will flank an expansive basecamp, capped by a six-story office building, private rooftop office bungalows and decks on the top floor.

“This project represents our company’s continued focus on redeveloping infill product for the entertainment and media industries in the content capital of the world,” said Bardas founder and managing principal David Simon. “The old home to Technicolor and Metro Pictures represents another great opportunity to keep ‘Hollywood in Hollywood’.”

Developers and others have been racing to buy, build and renovate studios and production space which continues to be scarce worldwide given the large number of productions looking for homes. The streaming wars kicked off the race for space and even a more subdued climate lately of streamers spending less on content will be nowhere near to making up the supply-demand imbalance.

Bardas and Bain joined forces in 2019, focusing on the LA market. They have current development and projects in the pipeline of more than 1.5 million square feet.

Their Echelon brand provides a range of hospitality and services on site.

“We have strong conviction in the secular demand drivers underpinning the continued growth of the media and entertainment industry, and we are excited to expand our portfolio with Bardas,” said Joe Marconi, a managing director at Bain Capital Real Estate. “We look forward to working together to reimagine the site and honor its past while at the same time delivering an unmatched curated experience that meets the evolving needs of today’s entertainment and media content creators.”

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