Apple Taking Over Culver City Office Building After HBO Backs Out

HBO’s decision to back out of its new headquarters had everything to do with the AT&T-Time Warner deal, according to sources familiar with the real estate transaction.

“With the merger looming, HBO’s future is uncertain right now, and this resulted in them pulling out of the Culver City deal,” says a source familiar with the media company.

Last year’s announcement that HBO would be the sole tenant at Lincoln Property Co.’s four-story project was hailed for adding another big-ticket tenant in a city that has several (Amazon recently took 280,000 square feet at Culver Studios).

For now, HBO’s West Coast HQ will remain at Santa Monica’s Colorado Center, where its lease expires in 2019.

Once HBO backed out, Apple “grabbed the building quickly,” says the source, and is looking to move in late 2019. It is widely believed that Apple will house its original content enterprise there and expand the company’s Culver City footprint (the Beats division has been there since 2014).

Located across the street from Culver City’s Ivy Station, the Gensler-designed mixed-use development will include 4,500 square feet of ground-level retail as well as expansive bicycle parking.

With HBO out, Culver City vice mayor Thomas Small predicts that Apple and Amazon will be facing off for more square footage in the district’s relatively small market.

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This story first appeared in the March 7 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.