Construction on a mixed-use development project at Columbia Square on Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood, is slated to start in the coming few months. The Columbia Square site was acquired by real estate firm, Kilroy Realty Corporation (KRC) for around $65 million in October 2012.
The Columbia Square site was earlier home to CBS studios' Los Angeles radio and television operations. KRC will be spending around $330 million on the planned development. Construction is expected to be completed by 2016, reports Curbed.
The location of the site adds leverage in itself. The campus is located at 6121 West. Sunset Boulevard and is just two blocks away from the Sunset Media Center. The site is surrounded by the metro redline and many retail amenities. Offices of big players like TIME Warner, Live Nation, Capitol Records and even the Academy Awards are the site's neighbors, reports MarketWatch.
KRC hopes to build a mixed use project on the Columbia Square site which includes, 200 luxury rental condos, 33,000 square feet of office space and 30,000 square feet of retail space. The group will also be renovating three other old buildings on the site that were designed by Swiss starchitect, William Lescaze. Apparently, celebrities like Bob Hope, Bob Dylan and Lucille Ball had recorded shows in the buildings, reports Wall Street Journal.
"The Hollywood real estate market is benefiting from revitalization and gentrification, with more than $3 billion of public and private investment in the past several years," David Simon, executive vice president of KRC's Los Angeles division, said in a statement.
"There is very little quality office space available to meet growing demand from entertainment and media tenants. We see significant opportunities to capitalize on the lack of modern office and retail product. What's more, by expanding our regional portfolio of media-oriented properties, we can deepen our service capabilities and broaden our marketing opportunities with the industry's major players, while creating potential synergies for the many small and mid-sized entertainment companies whose operations are currently scattered throughout the city," he added.