Historic Warner Studios Hollywood Lot Being Sold

Warner Bros. has agreed to sell its Warner Studios Hollywood, a historic movie lot where such stars as Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra and Douglas Fairbanks once worked, saying Wednesday that it no longer needs the production space.

Warner Bros., a division of Time-Warner Inc., is unloading the 13-acre studio property in West Hollywood to an investment partnership for about $65 million, executives close to the deal said.

Warner Bros. has 35 sound stages on its main Burbank lot and its nearby 32-acre movie ranch. It has been trying to get rid of its satellite studio in West Hollywood for several years.

“We had plenty of space in Burbank, so we were waiting for the right buyer and the right price for this property,” said Warner Bros. spokeswoman Barbara Brogliatti. “The thing was, we didn’t want to sell a historic lot to just anybody and watch them bulldoze it into the ground.”

The buyer is BA Studios, a venture between Blackacre Capital Management, a real estate investment fund based in New York, and Skye Partners, an entertainment property developer based in Los Angeles. Skye Partners already owns two sound stages in Culver City.

The new owners say they will continue running the property at Santa Monica Boulevard and Formosa Avenue as a production facility and plan to rename it “The Lot.”

The edgier name will help recast the studios as more of an independent production lot, BA Studios executives said.

“We think there will be continued demand for production space, especially projects that aren’t your typical blockbuster,” said Greg Harless, one of the three Skye partners. “There’s going to be more original programming for cable TV, more direct-to-video, more independent movies. And we were excited to take over a facility that has charmed the industry since the ‘20s.”

Actually, the lot dates back to 1919, when the movie industry was pulling up its East Coast roots and migrating to Southern California. In 1922, silent screen stars Mary Pickford and Fairbanks bought the lot and cranked out such classics as “Robin Hood” and “The Thief of Baghdad.”

In 1938, Samuel Goldwyn took over the lot, now in the heart of the world’s movie-making capital. Sinatra sang and danced in “Guys and Dolls.” Later, the lot would be home to “Some Like it Hot,” starring Monroe. Warner Bros. bought the lot in 1980. At that time, the company needed the extra space because it shared its Burbank facilities with competitor Columbia Pictures, jointly operating the facility as the Burbank Studios.

“Sharing the lot wasn’t really a marriage made in heaven, so we bought the West Hollywood studio,” Brogliatti said.

In 1990, after Sony Corp. bought Columbia Pictures, Columbia pulled out of the Burbank lot and Warner Bros. had all the space it needed, Brogliatti said.

Since then, Warner Bros. has poured its resources into fixing up the Burbank sound stages while looking for a buyer for the West Hollywood lot. Under the agreement with BA Studios, Warner Bros. will continue to run a post-production recording studio on “The Lot,” essentially becoming a tenant.

The 80-year-old lot is designated as an entertainment production facility under plans approved by the city of West Hollywood. As such, it cannot be converted into any non-production use without City Council approval, said John Keho, West Hollywood’s senior planner.