Paramount Pictures, the last big studio in Hollywood, plans to submit plans this week for a huge expansion covering 62 acres, encompassing its 56 acre studio lot on Melrose and six adjacent parcels. Design work for the 25-year Hollywood Project is being done by Rios Clementi Hale and Levin & Associates, according to the LA Times (RCH's offices are right down the street on Larchmont). The project will reshuffle and update facilities to modernize the campus and improve circulation--for instance, four 5,000 square foot soundstages will be demolished to make way for five huge new 20,000-plus square foot soundstages, according to TheWrap. The project will also add employee common areas, parking, and production basecamps.
A press release from Paramount says that the project "was designed to balance the needs of businesses in the future while protecting the historic and production core of the studio." The studio moved to the eastern part of its current Melrose site in 1926; it bought the western portion (the former RKO lot) in 1967. The Hollywood Reporter says that "many" of the historic buildings on the lot will remain and be modernized under the plan.
· Paramount Pictures plans $700-million upgrade to Hollywood lot [LAT]
· Paramount Embarking on $700 Million Makeover of Its Hollywood Studio [THR]
· Paramount Plans $700M Upgrade and Expansion of Its Lot [TheWrap]
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