Radford Studio Center to get $1 billion makeover, expansion

The historic former CBS Studio Center is set for an upcoming update that will cost $1 billion and expand and upgrade its broadcast and film production facilities.

Now known as Radford Studio Center, after its street address, ViacomCBS (now known as Paramount Global) sold the property to Hackman Capital Partners and Square Mile Capital Management in 2021 for $1.85 billion.

Paramount has a long-term leaseback agreement with the new owners for its owned-TV stations KCBS and KCAL as well as its Los Angeles news bureau. Several shows on CBS also rent space in the facility. 

Numerous other entertainment shows are also still produced at the facility, including ones that air on other networks, as well as CBS Media Ventures‘ syndicated entertainment newsmagazine “Entertainment Tonight.”

KCBS and KCAL moved to the Radford property in 2017 after years at its longtime home at the CBS Columbia Square facility, which is also no longer owned by Paramount.

The Radford Studio Center’s new owners plan to pour over $1 billion into the property, adding space for additional film and TV productions and employing up to 4,000 more people than it currently does.

Despite L.A.’s reputation for a TV and film hive, production space is still at a premium, according to a Deloitt report. The city is nearing full capacity and there are waiting lists for many spaces.

Plans call for combining portions of existing structures and new adding construction for a total over 2 million square feet of largely additional space.

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This could include up to 25 new soundstages and a million square feet of production support space and offices. Up to 700,000 square feet of office space could also be available for lease to entertainment companies not directly linked to a specific production.

The project will also include restoring the entrance off Ventura Boulevard to improve access to the facility. 

KCBS and KCAL facilities would not be noticeably affected by the project. The stations completed an extensive set update in early 2023.

The Radford property is also home to productions including CBS’s “The Talk,” “Seal Team” and “The Neighborhood” as well as ABC’s “The Chase.”

CBS Studio Center, which happens to be how Studio City district got its name, is sometimes confused with CBS Television City, another former Paramount property in the Fairfax area of L.A. That facility is now known as simply Television City after CBS sold it in 2018.