Paramount’s hostile effort to acquire Warner Brothers remains up in the air, but the media company is taking over something slightly less expensive: Manhattan studio space.
Paramount Television Studios signed a lease for 70,000 square feet at Vornado Realty Trust’s Sunset Pier 94 Studios, the Commercial Observer reported. Vornado developed the borough’s sole purpose-built film studio alongside joint venture partners Hudson Pacific Properties and Hudson Pacific Properties.
The lease encompasses about a third of the facility, which includes 232,000 leaseable square feet, six soundstages, support space and offices. Paramount intends to use the space to film the second season of the Michael C. Hall-starring “Dexter: Resurrection,” which streams on Paramount+.
The length and asking rent of the lease were not disclosed and the owners of the studio could not immediately be reached for comment by the publication. The average asking rent for Manhattan industrial space in the fourth quarter was $32.17 per square foot, according to JLL.
Blackstone and Hudson Pacific joined the studio project in August 2023. Alongside Vornado, the three companies invested $350 million in the venture, a public-private partnership with the city’s Economic Development Corporation.
Perks provided to the developers included $73.5 million to repair and maintain the pier until 2060, as well as a starting rent of a mere $900,000 per year, which isn’t due to escalate to a $2.8 million peak until the end of a 99-year lease.
There’s also a state program providing financial incentives to studios that produce two or more projects and spend at least $100 million in the state.
Vornado owns a 49.9 percent stake in the studio, while Hudson Pacific has a 25.6 percent stake and Blackstone owns the rest.
New York has long been a dominant player in the country’s studio space sector, despite the impenetrability of Manhattan due to high development costs and a lack of available space.
— Holden Walter-Warner
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