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Netflix set to double its L.A.-area office space with move to Hollywood

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Netflix is loading up its truck and moving to Hollywood.

The Los Gatos, Calif., company will move its SoCal operations from Beverly Hills to the center of action in Hollywood by 2017. The video streaming service signed a long-term lease at 14-story Icon Building at Sunset Bronson Studios, a deal The Times reported last month was in the works.

The marquee high-rise office tower, being erected by Hudson Pacific Properties Inc., is under constuction on the studio lot on Sunset Boulevard. Netflix is expected to occupy just over 200,000 square feet — the deal, according to the companies, is the largest office lease signed in Hollywood in terms of square feet. And it doubles Netflix’s L.A.-area office space.

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A Netflix spokesperson declined to comment on length of the lease and financial terms of the deal.

The high-profile move is indicitive of Netflix’s ambitions to establish itself as a key player in the entertainment industry. The company has made impressive strides in the TV world with its slate of original programming and will soon see how its deals in the film world will shift business models. All the while, it has amassed more than 65 million worldwide subscribers.

“Icon is a state-of-the-art facility that places Netflix squarely in the middle of Hollywood’s creative culture to support our next stage of growth and content creation,” said Netflix CFO David Wells in a statement. “The property’s combination of office, stage and production space provides an ideal setting.”

Icon is at 5800 W. Sunset Blvd. and will encompass 323,000 square feet total upon completion.

Netflix currently occupies about 100,000 square feet of offices in Maple Plaza in Beverly Hills, according to real estate brokerage Cushman Wakefield. Four hundred of its 2,000 global staff operate out of that space. As its business continues to expand, the need for more elbow room was inevitable.

The move to Hollywood from Beverly Hills comes as the Internet TV company is beefing up its production presence in Los Angeles and surrounding communities with its original projects.

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Among the upcoming Netflix originals shot in or near Los Angeles are series “Fuller House,” “The Ranch,” “Lady Dynamite,” “Flaked,” “Love,” and “With Bob And David” and the Netflix original film “Pee-wee’s Big Holiday.” Past productions also shot in the area include “Arrested Development” and “Grace and Frankie.”

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Netflix’s decision to relocate its SoCal operations to Hollywood “reaffirms that Los Angeles remains the nexus for innovative tech and creative companies and that the future of the entertainment industry will call Hollywood home.”

He continued: “With this move, Netflix will bring many well-paying jobs to the Hollywood community, one of our city’s sought-after live-work-play environments. My business team is assisting Netflix with relocation and permit approvals.”

Netflix is also expanding in the Bay Area, where it rents more than 215,000 square feet in Los Gatos and Fremont. The company has agreed to lease an additional 240,000 square feet in a new office complex in Los Gatos starting in December.

I tweet about TV (and other things) here: @villarrealy

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