LOS ANGELES — Looking to shed “non-core assets like real estate,” ViacomCBS is reportedly exploring the sale of CBS Studio Center — the lot that practically gave Studio City its name.
The 38-acre site on Radford Avenue, off Ventura Boulevard, is the second showcase property in a week that the corporation has reportedly put on the block. Last week, the corporation announced it was selling its skyscraper New York City headquarters known as “Black Rock” for $760 million.
“ViacomCBS has hired the commercial real estate firm JLL to explore a potential sale of our Radford campus in Studio City,” CBS Chief Executive George Cheeks said Monday in a staff email, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The newspaper quoted Cheeks as saying the potential sale “aligns with our strategy to divest non-core assets like real estate and direct that value to priorities such as creating more of our best-in-class content.”
The Radford property has been home to numerous TV shows over the years, including “Seinfeld,” “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and “Gilligan’s Island.” It is currently home to local stations KCBS-2 and KCAL-9.
Radford has been the West Coast headquarters of CBS since 2008, when the company relocated there from its Television City location on Fairfax Avenue. The company sold Television City for $750 million three years ago.
With demand for sound stages at a premium, the Radford property would figure to draw a significant price if sold. It boasts 18 sound stages as well as some 210,000 square feet of office space, according to the report.
ViacomCBS still owns the Paramount Pictures lot on Melrose Avenue.
The Studio City area got its name from the presence of the lot, which was originally established by legendary silent film producer Mack Sennett in 1927.
One of the streets on the lot — Mack Sennett Avenue — is named after him.
Other streets include Gunsmoke Avenue, Gilligan’s Island Road, Mary Tyler Moore Avenue and Newhart Street all named after shows that filmed on the lot.
Other shows that filmed on the Radford lot include “Seinfeld,” “Roseanne” and “Mary Tyler Moore” spinoffs “Rhoda,” “Phyllis,” and “Lou Grant.”
The “Gilligan’s Island” lagoon, located on the lot’s northwest corner, was paved over for a parking structure in the mid-1990s, according to Wikipedia.
