The broadcasting studio in Los Angeles that game show "The Price Is Right" called home for decades is set for a $1 billion facelift to add an office tower, production space and street-level retail to the landmark property.
Architecture firms Foster & Partners, Rios and Adamson Associates released a new scaled-back master plan and designs for the 25-acre Television City on Beverly Boulevard in Hollywood that requires approval from the city of Los Angeles. The scheme updates a previous plan that property owner Hackman Capital Partners released in 2021.
Gone from the new plan is one of two proposed 15-story office towers. Other high-rise buildings from the original 2021 proposal are shortened to five stories or less. Added to the proposal are new sound stages, production and creative office space and retail.
Television City plans would add new office space, though less of it, to a Los Angeles market that’s already dealing with elevated vacancies. The Los Angeles office vacancy rate of 16% tops the national average of 13.8%, according to CoStar data. The current level of sublease space available, about 2.7%, is a near a record high. Some developers have hit pause on new office buildings with about 2.9 million square feet under construction, compared to 8.7 million square feet in 2020.
Hackman acquired Television City from CBS for $750 million in 2019. Now the Los Angeles-based developer has come back with a revised version of its initial redevelopment plan.
Foster & Partners, Rios and Adamson Associates would give Television City a 21st-century upgrade to its curb appeal while retaining some of the original structures designed in 1952 by William Pereira in the international architectural style.
The new plan includes several low-rise white-metal buildings with plenty of windows and extensive landscaping, including a tree-covered entry plaza. A tall, black metal fence that currently surrounds the property would be removed. A 15-story office tower would be constructed in the center of the complex and be topped with a helicopter landing pad.
Construction will utilize low-carbon materials and the site will generate its own renewable energy, according to Foster & Partners.
CBS plans to remain a tenant at Television City. The network’s shows that currently use Television City’s studios include "The Late Late Show with James Corden" and the soap opera "Young and the Restless."
Pioneering Studio Design
Television City has also been the studio host of iconic productions in American cultural history such as "American Idol," "The Carol Burnett Show," "All in the Family" and "Wheel of Fortune." As for the "The Price Is Right," the game show ended its 51-year run at Television City last year when production moved to Haven Studios in Los Angeles.
The original 1950s design of Television City by the firm Pereira & Luckman included pioneering features, according to the Los Angeles Conservancy, a historic preservation advocacy group.
“Flexibility was key: studio walls, and even some exterior walls, could be moved and rearranged to accommodate the needs of specific productions,” the LA Conservancy says in a building description on its website.
“The result is a stark international style design of flat-roofed rectangular volumes with either glass or unornamented stucco walls, all in dramatic black and white with bright red accents,” according to the LA Conservancy.
Since it’s Hollywood, the architects produced renderings of the new complex that show giant posters installed on the building fronts that tout the current and upcoming lineup of shows and movies broadcast on site.
“We are completely reimagining filmmaking and content production by creating an interconnected green campus with people at its center,” Foster & Partners senior partner Armstrong Yakubu said in a news release.
Foster & Partners has a long resume of architectural work for high-profile properties, including the Gherkin office tower in London and Hearst Tower in New York. Rios has created master plans and architectural designs for numerous entertainment industry companies, including Fox, NBC Universal and Paramount. Adamson Associates' portfolio includes work for the Union Park development in Toronto and Canary Wharf in London.
For the Record
A team from CBRE that includes vice chairman Jeff Pion, executive vice president Michelle Esquivel-Hall and first vice president Drew Pion represents Hackman Capital. Hackman Capital CEO Michael Hackman is leading efforts for his firm. David Summerfield, head of studio, and Armstrong Yakubu, senior partner, are working on the project for Foster & Partners. Bob Hale, creative director at Rios, was lead designer for his firm.