MPAA to move into offices vacated by Warner Bros. unit

The Motion Picture Assn. of America will relocate its Encino office down the street to a larger space in Sherman Oaks Galleria, the association said Thursday.

The MPAA, a trade group representing six major Hollywood studios, is sub-leasing the 100,000-square-foot space from Warner Bros. Entertainment for the next 8 1/2 years.

The group, which is based in Washington, will leave the 80,000-square-foot office it occupied for 15 years and move three blocks to take over the new space from Warner Bros. Animation, which is moving back to the studio’s Burbank lot.

Parties involved in the transaction declined to comment on the value of the lease, but a person familiar with the deal, who asked not to be identified because terms were confidential, said the lease was worth about $30 million.

“As the MPAA has evolved into an even more global operation and adopted new approaches to fighting piracy which require new technological capability, we have sought office space that meets different needs,” Chief Executive Dan Glickman said.

The larger space will better accommodate the association’s growing Anti-Piracy Demonstration Center, which uses advanced computers and large screens to illustrate how piracy works. Because it was home to an animation studio, the new space also offers state-of-the-art screening rooms for the MPAA’s film rating operations, the association said.

The MPAA’s new office will open its doors Tuesday; it will house the organization’s 150 Los Angeles employees.

Also making the move with the MPAA is the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and two divisions of the Directors Guild of America, which shared the Encino space.

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victoria.kim@latimes.com