Hackman Capital Partners to Buy CBS Television City for $750M

Hackman Capital Partners, Los Angeles, agreed to purchase the CBS Television City studio and production facility in Los Angeles from CBS Corp., New York, for $750 million.

The acquisition is not Hackman Capital Partners’ first film studio acquisition. Hackman Capital Partners CEO Michael Hackman said the firm has successfully updated other real estate assets into modern facilities for media, entertainment and content-creation companies.

Commercial Observer reported Hackman purchased The Culver Studios in 2014. Movies filmed in those Culver City, Calif., studios include Gone With the Wind and Citizen Kane. Hackman later purchased the redevelopment rights for The Culver Steps, a mixed-use property adjacent to The Culver Studios, the magazine said. Amazon.com’s Amazon Studios recently moved into The Culver Studios and The Culver Steps and films programs including Transparent and Goliath there.

As part of the agreement CBS programs will produced on the 25-acre campus for at least the next five years. Television City-produced series include The Late Show with James Corden, The Price is Right and soap opera The Young and the Restless. CBS will also retain office space for CBS Studios International’s U.S. headquarters and other company departments currently housed on the site.

Hackman Capital will be able to use the Television City trademark in connection with its operations on the property.

CBS Corp. President and Acting CEO Joseph Ianniello said the transaction unlocked significant value and increased CBS’s financial flexibility, allowing it to redeploy capital for strategic growth initiatives. The firm’s 40-acre CBS Studios Center in Studio City, Calif., will remain its primary production facility. That campus is home to the broadcast network, CBS Television Studios and CBS Television Stations KCBS and KCAL.

Both firms expect the transaction will close by early 2019.