STUDIO BUILDING BOOM ISN’T OVER YET

For Immediate Release

3/21/2000

El Segundo Multi-Media Center is unveiled by the developer of Manhattan Beach Studios

Southern Calif. – Gary L. Bastien, AIA, the Hollywood studio architect who designed over 90% of the new studios in the LA area, landed another major studio project called El Segundo Multi Media Center. Just announced last week by Ron Flesch, who was also involved in the development of the highly successful Raleigh Manhattan Beach Studios, the mixed-use project has been well-received by city officials and entertainment industry insiders.

Contrary to what some might think, Bastien says that the studio building boom has not subsided at all–and this latest addition to his list of commercially successful studios is ample evidence.

“We were designing for the last sound stage shortage when others were still saying it didn’t exist” Bastien says. All of the studios that Bastien designed have been booked solid since their debut with TV shows like Fox’s “Ally McBeal” and “The Practice.” Soaps, feature films and other productions also use Bastien’s facilities. “We know this market well, because people come to us in the early stages of their studio planning. When a studio wants to attract and keep the best productions, they know that having studio planning expertise is essential. What they may not know is that we do many types of non-studio design and planning as well.”

He says the $250 million El Segundo mixed-use campus includes other important components such as a low-rise office complex, high-rise offices, a 500-room hotel, and retail space.

Other recent projects include Manhattan Beach Studios (Phase I and II), which was the first new studio in the Los Angeles area in 60 years, and Los Angeles Center Studios, which was the first studio campus in the downtown area of Los Angeles. Bastien is currently working on a large second-phase expansion for Los Angeles Center Studios. Despite the success of these studios, there were doubters that said they would sit empty. These ground-breaking projects shattered age-old perceptions that no one would rent stages west of the San Fernando Valley, and that no production company would sign multi-year lease contracts for stages prior to construction.

Bastien believes that increased film production on a global level has helped to spur growth. Variety reports that Ontario, which is Canada’s largest production center, is losing ground to other production centers in Canada as well as abroad. However, the study shows that even though “the province’s share of the national production pie shrunk from 45% to 38%,” the total money spent on production actually increased in Ontario last year.