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Los Angeles

Bardas and Bain gain approval for $450M film studio in Hollywood

Echelon Studios to feature soundstages and bungalow village of executive offices

Bardas and Bain Gain Approval for Film Studio in Hollywood
Bardas Investment Group' David Simon; Bain Capital Real Estate's Dan Cummings; 5601 West Santa Monica Boulevard (Getty, Bardas Investment Group, Bain Capital, Bob Hale/Rios)

Bardas Investment Group and Bain Capital Real Estate won final approval to build a 510,300-square-foot entertainment complex in Hollywood.

The West Hollywood- and Boston-based developers got the go-ahead from the Los Angeles City Council to build Echelon Studios, a soundstage and office complex at 5601 Santa Monica Boulevard, Urbanize Los Angeles reported.

The 5-acre studio complex would replace a former Sears department store. When it was announced in 2021, the estimated cost was $450 million.

The six-story project would include 110,000 square feet of production studios and support facilities; 388,000 square feet of offices; 12,300 square feet of ground-floor restaurants; and an underground parking garage for 981 cars.

The production studios will include four 19,000-square-foot soundstages and one 15,000-square-foot flex stage. The offices would be built in two five-story towers joined with a bungalow village of executive and creative suites.

The 93-foot-tall project, designed by Rios of Leimert Park, includes glass offices resembling stacked clear Legos with terrace decks, according to renderings. House & Robertson, based in Culver City, share in the project design.

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The L.A. City Council, in approving the project, nixed a requirement to dedicate land to widen streets that surround the project site. The requirement, made to a previous owner for a mixed-use project, was deemed obsolete.

After the developers break ground, construction of the Echelon Studios is expected to take three years. A timeline for the project was not disclosed.

Bardas and Bain Capital bought the property in early 2021 for $81.9 million.

The joint venture, formed in 2019, aims to build more than 1 million square feet of new film studios. 

Projects include a $600 million, 620,000-square-foot studio campus at the historic Television Center about a mile away from the project on Santa Monica Boulevard, at 6311 Romaine Street, in Hollywood. Bardas and Bain bought the 6.5-acre site in early 2022 for $135 million.

— Dana Bartholomew

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Bardas Investment Group and Bain Capital Real Estate