• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, December 1, 2021

In the latest asset divestment to reduce debt and support its shift to focusing on its D2C streaming business, ViacomCBS has agreed to sell the CBS Studio Center in Los Angeles’s Studio City for $1.85 billion.

Real estate investors Hackman Capital Partners and Square Mile Capital Management partnered on the winning bid for the 55-acre property on Radford Avenue, the production home of classic TV shows including classics “Gunsmoke,” “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and “Seinfeld,” and current shows including “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.”

The deal includes CBS’s studio operations business, including facilities management, stage rentals and production support services.

CBS said it plans to relocate workers to other sites. Hackman Capital's plans for the property have not been announced.

Hackman Capital acquired the Sony Pictures Animation campus in January of this year and Queens, New York-based Kaufman Astoria Studios in November. Its numerous other studio properties include L.A.'s Television City, the Manhattan Beach (California) Media Campus and the Culver Studios in Culver City. The Culver studio -- where “Gone With the Wind” and other iconic movies were filmed--is the current home of Amazon Studios. Hackman also owns studios in Chicago, Houston, New Orleans, Long Island City/the Bronx, Ohio, Massachusetts, Michigan, other California locations, and the U.K. and Ireland.

ViacomCBS announced its intention to sell the CBS Studio Center last summer.

The price — described as “staggering” by the Los Angeles Times — reflects heightened demand for L.A.-based TV soundstages as entertainment companies push to churn out content for streaming services.