KTLA Parent to Sell 12-Acre Site to Developer

Tribune Co., the owner of KTLA-TV Channel 5, has signed an agreement to sell its 12-acre lot on Sunset Boulevard to Santa Monica-based entertainment developer M. David Paul Development, which plans to build a new office and sound-stage development on the site.

KTLA and several affiliated Tribune operations would continue to lease space there, moving broadcast facilities and offices into part of a 200,000-square-foot building that M. David Paul plans to build next year.

The acquisition and development costs for this first building are expected to exceed $75 million, industry sources say.

Plans for a 20-story, 650,000-square-foot office tower were approved by the city of Los Angeles in 1990. However, M. David Paul plans to build two smaller buildings of no more than 10 stories and four sound stages, said Jeff Worthe, M. David Paul vice president.

In a statement, City Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg called the project a new “eastern gateway to Hollywood.”

M. David Paul officials hope it will lure entertainment firms and studios back from locations on the Westside and in Glendale and Burbank.

“There are a lot of entertainment companies that would like to move back to Hollywood,” Worthe said. “But there hasn’t been any new space built.”

Tribune acquired the property with its ornate colonial facade in 1988, three years after purchasing KTLA. Originally home to Warner Bros. Sunset Studio, the property was sold by Warner Bros. to Paramount Pictures in 1942.

Paramount moved KTLA to the site in 1955, nine years before it was sold to Gene Autry. His Golden West Broadcasters was purchased by Tribune.