Sony Pictures to stay in signature Culver City offices

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Sony Pictures Entertainment has signed a lease extension that will keep the studio in the Sony Pictures Plaza building in Culver City through 2016.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but a real estate broker familiar with the 328,847-square-foot building at 10000 W. Washington Blvd. valued the lease at about $50 million.

The sloping eight-story building, completed in 1986 and owned by an affiliate of Transpacific Development Co., is across Madison Street from the main Sony Pictures lot in Culver City. It houses about 1,000 employees who work primarily in the studio’s home entertainment division and corporate services, said David Mannix, a senior vice president at Sony Pictures.

The atrium of the building is public space and home to a small museum that includes props and costumes used in movies released by the studio, such as “Men in Black,” “Hancock” and “Zombieland.”

“Over the long term we need to be strategic in how we build up our business and meet the needs of our employees, customers and audiences here and around the world,” Mannix said.

“We’re undertaking an in-depth review of all our facilities and how they function so that we can be a truly ‘21st century’ studio. Having the stability of a lease at Sony Pictures Plaza over the next six years is very helpful as we look at what we need to do for our business in the years beyond that.”

-- Roger Vincent