King Street Capital Management, in partnership with Alberta Investment Management Corporation clients and a sovereign wealth fund have formed a joint venture with East End Studios to acquire and develop production studios to meet the exploding demand for content creation.
The initial projects include three locations in the Greater Los Angeles area with a total capitalization over $500 million and projected delivery of approximately 750,000 s/f of stage and related ancillary space.
The partnership will target existing facilities, along with redevelopment and development opportunities, in an effort to consolidate a world class portfolio of production stages.
While the initial projects include two locations in Glendale, CA and a third in Downtown Los Angeles, the joint venture is targeting opportunities in other major U.S. film hubs, as well as seeking opportunities in established international markets.
David Walch, Partner at King Street, said “As an active real estate investor, we are drawn to the supply-demand imbalance in the studio sector which we identified through our industry relationships and expertise. We look forward to leveraging our extensive experience to successfully reposition real estate assets in the studio sector.”
Ian Woychuk, Director, Real Estate at AIMCo, added “Streaming services continue to experience rapid growth with a number of new players entering the market, a trend that has only accelerated during the pandemic. The pace at which technology is advancing in this field has enabled more production to occur in sound stages, driving an enormous demand for modern studio facilities. We believe the joint venture is well positioned to capitalize on this trend in core media markets globally.”
King Street is a global alternatives investment firm with $20 billion in assets across public and private markets. AIMCo is one of Canada’s largest institutional investment managers and East End Studios is a private equity backed growth platform headquartered in Los Angeles, CA with an office in New York City.
