Major overhaul planned for Hollywood’s Sunset Gower Studios

With big-name tenants like Netflix moving in down the road, Hollywood’s Sunset Gower Studios campus is poised for a major overhaul, according to plans filed Wednesday with the city planning department.

The plans call for massive changes to the 16-acre complex, including demolition of more than 160,000 square feet of existing structures and the addition of 628,000 square feet of new production buildings.

In total, the project would add 467,400 square feet of floor space to the campus—more than twice the size of the stalled-out Hollywood Target down the street. The new space would be spread among three buildings and a parking structure.

Established in 1918 by CBC Film Sales (later Columbia Pictures), the studio was used in the production of film classics, including It Happened One Night and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. It was later home to such television shows as Bewitched, Golden Girls, and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

Developer Hudson Pacific Properties purchased the campus in 2007 and quickly completed work on a six-story building now occupied by Technicolor.

Christopher Barton, executive vice president of development and capital investments with Hudson, tells Curbed in a statement that “modernizing Sunset Gower Studios will enable us to continue to support the ongoing renaissance in entertainment production in Hollywood.”

The developer is also working on a 13-story office tower across the street from the historic Sunset Bronson Studios building, which it also owns. Hudson Pacific Properties also recently completed the Icon Tower at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Van Ness Avenue, which Netflix moved into earlier this year.

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