The project will transform the studio site with new facilities while
preserving the historic façade along Beverly Boulevard. (photo by Edwin Folven)

Following a six-hour public hearing on Sept. 12, the Los Angeles City Planning Commission unanimously approved the Television City 2050 project, a plan to modernize and expand the historic 25-acre studio site at Beverly Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue.

The approval capped a five-year process during which the Planning Department conducted an environmental impact review, held public meetings and responded to hundreds of concerns raised by opponents. Planning Department staff recommended the commission grant approval. The project will next go before the Los Angeles City Council’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee and later the full City Council.

Television City is owned and operated by Hackman Capital Partners, which is seeking to expand the studio to better meet the needs of production companies. The plan calls for 1,724,000 square feet of sound stage, production support, production office, general office and retail uses, with the retention of 264,377 square feet of existing uses. The Planning Commission approved a Specific Plan for Television City, which creates a special site where specific uses – such as studio production – are allowed, as well as the project itself.

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky, 5th District, worked with Hackman Capital Partners during the past year to reduce the size of the project by 150,000 square feet. On Sept. 11, she called for an additional reduction of 50,000 square feet as well as greater setbacks and lower building heights along Fairfax Avenue as a condition of her support. Combined, the 200,000-square-foot reduction amounts to a decrease of 10% from the initial project plan. At the meeting on Sept. 12, Hackman Capital Partners agreed to meet the councilwoman’s requirements.

“We are grateful to the Planning Commission for their vote of approval, which will help to improve the Beverly/Fairfax neighborhood while keeping and creating thousands of good entertainment industry and ancillary jobs in Los Angeles,” Hackman Capital Partners founder and CEO Michael Hackman said. “We are especially grateful to Councilmember Yaroslavsky for her direction and support, helping to guide refinements to the project in response to feedback raised by residents and stakeholders.”

Yaroslavsky said the agreement on reductions will create a project more beneficial to everyone.

“I’m grateful to everyone who provided feedback throughout this process, and worked with my team and I to ensure the compatibility of the project with the neighborhood,” Yaroslavsky said. “Together, I am confident that we’ve achieved a solution that benefits both the long-term viability of the entertainment industry in Los Angeles and our community.”

The approval marked a milestone for Television City, which opened in 1952. The Television City project is supported by numerous organizations and individuals such as the Mid City West Neighborhood Council, Fairfax Business Association, Melrose Business Improvement District, Park La Brea Residents Association, Los Angeles Conservancy and Jewish Family Services. Hackman Capital Partners and the project’s supporters believe it will be a catalyst for economic growth in the city’s film and television production industry, and will create thousands of jobs. Hackman Capital Partners is also committed to providing more than $4 million for improvements in the surrounding community.

“We are incredibly grateful for the support that the community and the industry showed for the TVC project, the overwhelming number of individuals who attended both in person and on Zoom – I think it was a greater than a two-to-one margin speaking in support of the project. I think it’s a reflection of years of authentic engagement and outreach to the community, to listening to folks’ concerns and to the meaningful changes that [were] represented in our in our modified studio project,” said Zach Sokoloff, senior vice president of Hackman Capital Partners.

Opponents believe the project is too large and will adversely affect the surrounding neighborhood with more density and traffic. They contended the project description is too vague and does not limit Hackman Capital Partners to using the site as a production studio. Opponents include Caruso and The Grove, the A.F. Gilmore Company and Original Farmers Market, the Broadcast Center Apartments, the Beverly Fairfax Community Alliance, Save Beverly Fairfax, Miracle Mile Residential Association, Beverly Wilshire Homes Association and Neighbors for Responsible TVC Development.

The Planning Commission denied nine appeals of the environmental impact report’s certification filed by the opponents before approving the specific plan and the project itself. Opponents denounced the commission’s decision and said the reductions called for by Yaroslavsky are not enough.

“Our council member and the commission gave their blessing to a speculative development that drew well over 400 comment letters, that raised very serious questions about the process and the application, and they brushed aside nine well-grounded appeals that were brought by stakeholders ranging from the Caruso and Gilmore companies to Save Beverly Fairfax and the Miracle Mile Residents Association. I would have to say it was not a good day for the city,” Neighbors for Responsible TVC Development co-chair Shelley Wagers said. “We will continue to articulate community issues throughout the hearing process.”

“Disappointing is an understatement,” added Neighbors for Responsible TVC Development co-chair Danielle Peters. “In addition to disappointing, it was also quite shocking, because what it came down to in the end was very antithetical to what Katy’s representations to us were all along. We knew that she was going to make a statement, but the contents of the letter were quite a surprise.”

Dates for the Los Angeles City Council review are still pending. The Planning Department is in the process of creating a report that will be turned into a council file submitted for consideration by the council’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee. Once submitted, the motion will be placed on the agenda by the city clerk. The agendizing process usually takes at least six weeks, Yaroslavsky’s spokesman Leo Daube said. The public will have further opportunity to weigh-in at the City Council hearings.