The studio buildings are selling for about $267 per foot. Sussman said that the purchase doesn’t seem like a “screaming bargain,” though there is space at the site for more development. However, that could be a tough battle because of a watchful and development-weary Manhattan Beach community. Delores Conway, director of the Casden Real Estate Economics Forecast at the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate, said that the studios have changed the Manhattan Beach community for the better. “Home prices went up a lot as a result of the studio coming,” said Conway, a longtime Manhattan Beach resident, adding that many producers and directors who work at the studios have bought homes nearby. “Also, office space started to take off along the Rosecrans corridor.”
March 26, 2007