ViacomCBS is reportedly near a sale of its CBS Studio Center property in the Studio City neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Hackman Capital Partners offered no comment to The Hollywood Reporter to a report in The Wall Street Journal that the major studio operator and Square Mile Capital Management have put a winning bid of $1.8 billion on the table. But sources close to the negotiations with ViacomCBS indicate a formal deal has yet to be finalized, but is considered imminent.
Real estate and partnering hedge funds have been on a major studio buying spree of late after Hackman Capital and Square Mile Capital acquired Kaufman Astoria Studios, the New York City studio backlot and the original home of Paramount Pictures.
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And TPG Real Estate Partners has purchased studio campuses in Toronto and Chicago belonging to Cinespace Studios for around $1.1 billion. The latest studio acquisitions come as demand for facilities and production services surges worldwide amid a streaming content boom and longtime studio owners cash out as the industry consolidates.
ViacomCBS, which was not available for comment on a potential sale of CBS Studios, has been shopping the 40-acre production lot with 18 soundstages as part of the studio’s plan to offload non-core assets to focus on the streaming space. Earlier on Aug. 16, real estate firm Harbor Group International bought the Black Rock midtown Manhattan property, known as the CBS building, for $760 million, with ViacomCBS taking out a short-term lease at the location.
Commercial real estate firm JLL has overseen the sale of ViacomCBS’ Radford campus in Studio City. The Hollywood studio also completed earlier sales of CNET and Simon & Schuster to finance its expanding content and streaming strategy.
The asset sales have aimed to position ViacomCBS with a structure similar to streaming giant Netflix, which continues to build up its international originals as it expands worldwide.
The potential CBS Studios deal also follows Hackman Capital and Square Mile entering the New York production market in September 2020 by acquiring Silvercup Studios in Long Island City and the Bronx. Those New York City studio assets are being combined with a Hollywood studio portfolio that includes The Culver Studios in Culver City, home to Amazon Studios, Television City Studios, the CBS broadcasting facility on 25 acres in West Hollywood, and the MBS Media Campus, home to James Cameron’s Lightstorm Studios.
