Centinela Studios Sold for $18.65 Million

A 60,000-square-foot production facility at 3401 Exposition Blvd. in Santa Monica has sold for $18.65 million to Watt Investment Partners, the commercial acquisition arm of Santa Monica-based Watt Cos.

Centinela Studios is located on 1.65 acres and was built in 1961 as the headquarters and manufacturing facility for American Shower Door Co., which owned and operated the building for more than 20 years.

“There’s a lot of history in this building,” said Patrick Ayau of Lee West L.A., which brokered the deal.

The site includes a warehouse that has been used as a sound stage for television and motion picture productions including 7th Heaven, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The Doors. The site also includes office spaces, and among the building's former tenants were Spelling Entertainment, which produced shows such as Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place. The TV series House was also filmed at Centinela Studios.      

Santa Monica-based Industry Partners will lease the space and plans to begin immediately on a number of exterior improvements.

“There are no 30,000-60,000 square-foot stand-alone creative buildings available in Santa Monica today,” said Industry Partners Principal Andrew Jennison, who will oversee the leasing for the new Watt project.

According to Industry Partners’ Westside Creative Office Market Report, tenants seeking space larger than 25,000 square feet have a tought time finding it in Santa Monica, where the vacancy rate for such properties is less than five percent.

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Boto Design Architects, a Santa Monica-based architectural firm that specializes in adaptive re-use of industrial buildings to creative office, commercial and post-production projects, is the firm that will design the space. The work is scheduled to begin this winter.

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