Fox to Anchor New $77-Million Studio

20th Century Fox will be the anchor tenant of a $77-million studio lot in Manhattan Beach being built by an investment group led by investor Roy E. Disney’s Shamrock Holdings.

Under a five-year lease announced Monday, Fox will occupy five of the project’s first 11 sound stages to be used for television and feature film production. Fox will also have an option to lease six other stages.

The deal underscores the demand for sound stages in Southern California by major entertainment companies as they produce programs for growing television, foreign and satellite-TV markets.

Gary Ehrlich, senior vice president of studio operations for Fox, said that the company needed the space because it is a “prolific producer” of movies and TV shows and because the Manhattan Beach site is relatively close to the company’s West Los Angeles studio lot.

Although most major studios, including Fox, have undertaken or are planning major expansion projects on their home lots, most are still squeezed for space and are turning to outside facilities.

Indeed, Shamrock, which originally planned to build only eight sound stages as part of its initial phase, will now build 11, which Chief Executive Stanley P. Gold said is because of the strong demand in the industry. When completed, the entire 545,500-square-foot development will have 14 stages, making it one of Hollywood’s largest independent studio lots ever built.

All told, Fox has agreed to lease three of the larger 25,000-square-foot sound stages and two other 18,000-square-foot stages. Fox will also lease 76,000 square feet of office space.

First announced nearly a year ago, the project breaks ground this week on a piece of land formerly occupied by defense contractor TRW Inc. at Redondo and Rosecrans avenues. When completed, it will be the first major studio in the South Bay.

Since the original announcement, Shamrock has been meeting with the major studios to recruit one as a key tenant. A Shamrock spokesman denied rumors around Hollywood that the project had run into financing difficulties, noting that Shamrock is financing the project itself.

The facility is slightly behind its original timetable--construction was supposed to begin last July--due to the negotiations and design modifications made to meet Fox’s needs. But the project is expected to meet its original timetable of having its first sound stages ready in time for the fall 1998 television season.

Shamrock is investing through Shamrock Entertainment Investors II and is partners with co-developer FN/Flesch & Neuhauser of Burbank. The Irvine architectural firm Bastien & Associates will design the studio with an Art Deco look.

The contractor, Irvine-based Snyder Langston, has been involved in construction projects at the CBS Studio Center as well as projects for Walt Disney Co. and Warner Bros.

Shamrock Holdings is the investment arm of the Roy Disney family. Disney is the nephew of the late Walt Disney and vice chairman of Walt Disney Co.