Frequently
Asked
Questions

The studio is located at 7800 Beverly Boulevard in the Beverly/Fairfax District of Los Angeles. It is situated in the heart of the 30 Mile Zone, the epicenter of production in Los Angeles.

The TVC 2050 Project is a comprehensive framework to expand and modernize the approximately 25-acre Television City studio (Project Site). This much-needed investment in Los Angeles’ most identifiable industry will create thousands of good-paying jobs and enable TVC to meet the growing demand for state-of-the-art production facilities, keeping productions in Los Angeles and reaffirming the city’s status as the creative capital of the world. The Project will also rehabilitate and preserve the integrity of the designated Historic Cultural Monument on-site.

TVC 2050 embraces architect William Pereira’s original design which focused on flexibility and adaptability, and ultimately called for the eventual development of additional sound stages and multi-story office buildings. This Project follows Pereira’s futuristic vision, allowing the studio to accommodate new technologies, meet evolving industry demands, and foster growth of media production in Los Angeles.

The Project would beautify the public realm through streetscape improvements and enhance the pedestrian experience. These improvements include widened sidewalks, curated landscaping, lighting, wayfinding signage, and pedestrian amenities such as shade structures. Along all street edges, pedestrian access and safety would be improved in accordance with city-wide Vision Zero standards.

Additionally, the Project will include an on-site Mobility Hub to encourage multi-modal transit. These include employee and visitor use of public transportation, carpooling, vanpooling, and biking/scootering to work, and other transportation demand management (TDM) strategies. TVC 2050 would also contribute toward transportation systems management (TSM) improvements within the Project area.

TVC 2050 embraces environmentally friendly design, building materials, and local partnerships, and will utilize environmentally sustainable building features and construction protocols required by the Los Angeles Green Building Code and the California Green Building Standards (CALGreen) Code. A number of sustainability measures will be incorporated into the Project, including solar panels, re-use of existing commercial land and adaptative re-use of existing facilities where feasible, enhanced public realm for improved walkability, a mobility hub to help reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT) for production vehicles and related uses, water-efficient plantings with drought-tolerant species, and shade trees in public areas.

Following the submittal of its entitlement application to the Department of City Planning, and pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the City prepared a Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) to identify and analyze the potential environmental benefits and impacts associated with TVC 2050. The City released the Draft EIR on July 14, 2022, which is available for public comment for 45 days. The City will respond to comments received on the Draft EIR in the Final EIR. Circulation of the Final EIR will be followed by several hearings before City decision makers. The Project will require the approval of the Los Angeles City Planning Commission, the Planning and Land Use Management Committee, and then the Los Angeles City Council. Throughout this process, the TVC 2050 team will continue to conduct robust community outreach and seek stakeholder feedback on the proposed plan.

The following environmental topics are analyzed in the Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR): air quality; cultural resources; energy; geology and soils; greenhouse gas emissions; hazards and hazardous materials; hydrology and water quality; land use and planning; noise; public services (including fire protection and police protection); transportation; tribal cultural resources; and utilities and service systems (including water supply and infrastructure, wastewater, and electric power, natural gas, and telecommunications infrastructure).

TVC 2050 has collaborated with the Los Angeles Conservancy (Conservancy) to develop a project framework that preserves the integrity of the Primary Studio Complex and maintains the 430-foot Beverly Boulevard viewshed while allowing for an expansion and modernization of this iconic studio property.

Yes. TVC 2050 has signed a Project Labor Agreement (PLA) for the construction of the Project with the Los Angeles/Orange Counties Building and Construction Trades Council, one of the largest agreements of its kind in Los Angeles. The PLA ensures that TVC 2050’s proposed new sound stages, production office and production support space will be built by highly skilled union craftsmen and women earning family-supporting wages.

Construction can begin after receiving the certification of the environmental documents and necessary entitlements from the City of Los Angeles.

Hackman Capital Partners, a leading owner/operator of production studios worldwide, has successfully modernized and transformed other studio properties into state-of-the-art production facilities, positioning them to meet the growing and ever-changing needs of the entertainment industry. Hackman Capital Partners owns Culver Studios and Sony Pictures Animation campus in Culver City, Manhattan Beach Studios, Radford Studio Center in Studio City and Raleigh Studios, one of the oldest film and television production facilities in Los Angeles.

The company also owns Silvercup in New York City, Second Line Stages in New Orleans, Ardmore Studios and Troy Studios in Ireland, and Wharf London and Eastbrook Studios, which are currently under development in London.

• TVC 2050 filed its entitlement application on March 26, 2021. At filing, TVC 2050 mailed thousands of brochures to its neighbors to announce its intentions to expand and modernize the nearly 70-year-old studio facility. The TVC 2050 project has been featured in many regional and local media publications since its filing, including multiple visualizations of its proposed conceptual plan.

• TVC 2050 filed its Notice of Preparation (“NOP”) on July 2, 2021. This document outlined TVC 2050’s complete entitlement request. All residents within a 500-foot radius of the project received a mail notification alerting them to the TVC 2050 project. The TVC 2050 entitlement request has not changed since its NOP was filed nearly 14 months ago, which is reflected in the Draft Environmental Impact Report (“DEIR”) that was published on July 14, 2022.

• The TVC 2050 team has also met with hundreds of local community stakeholders during its entitlement process and has earned the support of neighbors; non-profits; small businesses; community advocates like the Fairfax Business Association and the Melrose Business Improvement District; business entities such as the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce and the Los Angeles County Business Federation; labor unions including the Los Angeles/Orange Counties Building and Construction Trades Council, with whom TVC signed a Project Labor Agreement; and historic groups like the Los Angeles Conservancy, among many others.

• The TVC 2050 proposes a maximum of approximately 5,300 parking stalls on-site upon completion to ensure that ample parking is provided to employees and audiences, and to avoid any employee parking in the community. Many of these stalls will be below-grade. As shown in the conceptual site plan included in the DEIR, the proposed above-grade parking structure is located in the rear of the studio in the southeast portion of the site adjacent to the above-grade parking structure for The Grove.

• Television City currently has eight stages, many of which support audience shows like The Late Late Show with James Corden, Price is Right, and American Idol. On average, these shows accommodate approximately 100 audience members per day. The TVC 2050 conceptual site plan illustrates 14 modern sound stages; using this same utilization rate, TVC 2050 would generate an average of 175 to 200 audience members per day. To be conservative, the DEIR assumed a high audience rate for the purpose of analyzing noise and transportation impacts. The DEIR concluded that noise and traffic impacts as a result of audience shows would be less than significant.

• The DEIR concluded that the TVC 2050 project would not result in significant transportation impacts under CEQA during construction and operations. TVC 2050 will implement a robust transportation demand management (“TDM”) program and will include an on-site, multi-modal mobility hub. These TDM measures include, but are not limited to, the following:
– Rideshare pick-up and drop-off and bicycle parking and storage;
– Shuttle services to connect studio employees and visitors to nearby public transit options, including the Metro D (Purple) Line’s future Wilshire/Fairfax station;
– Commuter shuttles for employees from various neighborhoods around the City;
– Incentives for employees to utilize more efficient and sustainable transit options.

• In addition, TVC 2050 has committed to a multi-million-dollar investment in transportation improvements, such as traffic signal monitoring and control upgrades, left-turn signals, Vision Zero safety improvements, bicycle program funds, neighborhood traffic calming measures, and improvements focused on key corridors including Fairfax Avenue, Beverly Boulevard, and The Grove Drive.

• Today, there are no height restrictions on the property. TVC 2050 would impose height limits across the entire studio.

• The TVC 2050 Specific Plan would establish height limits ranging from approximately 58 feet to 88 feet, with additional height permitted in limited areas (the maximum height in these areas would be between 130 feet to 225 feet, which represent 8 to 15 story buildings). The maximum heights would only be permitted in the interior of the campus away from the public right-of-way.

• The Specific Plan would also set forth frontage and stepback requirements that are not currently required under existing zoning.

• The Regional Center designation was included in the TVC 2050 Notice of Preparation, released on July 2, 2021, and is intended to unify the three different General Plan designations consistent with a major studio campus. The proposed Regional Center designation is consistent with the site’s current zone designations as well as the proposed TVC 2050 Specific Plan zone designation.

• “Regional Center” is a technical term used by the City for places that “contain a diversity of uses such as offices, retail [and] major entertainment facilities and supporting services,” which “typically provide a significant number of jobs.” Per the City’s General Plan Framework Element, Regional Centers are “intended to serve as the focal points of regional commerce, identity, and activity.” TVC has functioned as a Regional Center for 70 years as the world’s first purpose-built television broadcast studio and an icon for the entertainment industry as well as a major component of the Beverly-Fairfax community’s identity. Bestowing a “Regional Center” designation reflects a land use designation that is appropriate for an iconic, economically important studio campus that would generate thousands of jobs in the heart of the Beverly-Fairfax community.

• The Regional Center designation does not double the permitted entitlements – today a floor area ratio of 1.5:1 is permitted and the project is requesting a modest increase to 1.75:1 (an approximately 17% increase in FAR). The City’s General Plan states that, generally, Regional Centers range from an FAR of 1.5:1 to 6:1. TVC’s proposed 1.75:1 FAR is on the lower end of the general FAR range for Regional Centers.

• The TVC 2050 Specific Plan is proposed to guide the development of Television City via a master plan framework that sets forth development guidelines related to studio and studio-related land uses, heights, frontages/setbacks, and signage, among others.

• The TVC 2050 Specific Plan will remedy the historically ad hoc and piecemeal development of studio lots that must respond to the changing physical and technological needs of the industry it serves. At Television City, this has resulted in an inefficient, underutilized and non-cohesive site and impacted the integrity of the Historic-Cultural Monument on-site. In accordance with the original vision for Television City under Pereira and Luckman’s master plan, the project proposes a comprehensive Specific Plan that sets forth consistent development standards and guidelines for the entire 25-acre studio property to ensure a cohesive studio campus that is compatible with the surrounding community while maintaining flexibility to adapt to the evolving demands of the entertainment industry.

• Specific Plans have been adopted for a number of studio developments in Los Angeles, including NBC Universal and Paramount Pictures. The City has recognized that a Specific Plan is the appropriate entitlement tool for a large studio campus.

• TVC 2050 also will provide a comprehensive set of community benefits through a Development Agreement with the City.

• The TVC 2050 DEIR conservatively analyzes a 32-month construction schedule, as a compressed schedule would result in greater impacts.

• It is not currently anticipated that construction would take place over a period of 20 years given the need to modernize and enhance the studio campus now. Nonetheless, the DEIR also addresses the potential buildout of the Project Site through 2043.

• As part of the DEIR, TVC has committed to using the best construction management practices. Project construction will take steps to protect our surroundings, including measures related to traffic, noise, air quality. We will establish a project construction liaison and 24/7 construction hotline, use industry leading clean construction equipment, and implement a traffic and noise construction management plan.

• Additionally, TVC signed a Project Labor Agreement with the Los Angeles/Orange Counties Building and Construction Trades Council. The project will be built using all-union labor and it will include a local hiring program.

• It would be unprecedented for the City to require that a project be delayed until the completion of an update to a Community Plan which has not yet commenced publicly and will take numerous years to complete. That the Wilshire Community Plan is in need of an update has no bearing on the proposed project, and it is inappropriate to consider an unknown future Community Plan update in the context of project-level approvals.

• TVC 2050 is needed now – the project would create thousands of new, good-paying jobs during construction and operations and modernize and enhance the iconic studio to ensure that it remains a premier studio for decades to come. Delaying the TVC project for illegitimate reasons would be detrimental to our City’s most identifiable industry – the Los Angeles entertainment industry. This industry is currently at risk because productions are relocating out of state at an increasingly rapid rate due to the lack of modern sound stages and production space in Los Angeles. TVC will help meet the unmet demand for sound stages and keep production and production jobs in Los Angeles.

• The City of Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) analyzes multiple components of a project as part of any CEQA review. From a community or regional level, LAFD reviews technical criteria for required fire-flow to local hydrants and the distance of the project to individual fire stations. On a project level, they review the proposed site regarding its layout and apparatus access. Additionally, on a project level they review the proposed buildings within the site for required fire life safety elements (fire sprinklers, fire annunciator panels, lobby access, emergency responder radio coverage, etc.) All of these elements – regional, site and building/structure – are taken in their totality and reviewed when the LAFD makes a recommendation on any project. In the case of this project, the LAFD has determined that the project conforms to LAFD’s requirements and identified that any potential impact has been reduced to a level deemed “acceptable.”