Apple in talks to lease Hackman’s La Cienega Expo project: sources

It would use the 85K sf development for original content production

Renderings of 5500 Jefferson (via 5500jefferson.com, Gensler)
Renderings of 5500 Jefferson (via 5500jefferson.com, Gensler)

Apple may have found a home for its original-content division in West Los Angeles, The Real Deal has learned.

The company is in talks to lease the entirety of Hackman Capital Partners’ 85,000-square-foot creative office development at 5500 W. Jefferson Boulevard near Culver City, sources said. The space, which sits near the La Cienga Expo Line Station, would be used for production.

CBRE’s Jeff Pion, who is the listing broker, declined to comment. Savills Studley is representing Apple, sources said, but representatives of the brokerage declined requests. Hackman could not be reached.

The website for the property lists triple net rent at $3.75 a square foot a month, which would value the lease at $3.83 million a year. A tenant can move into the completed development in January 2018, according to Loopnet.

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Hackman purchased a 74,000-square-foot warehouse on the site in late 2016 from Modern Props Inc. for $25 million, with the intention of converting it into a creative office development. Gensler designed the redevelopment.

If completed, the lease could be Apple’s second with Hackman. There are rumors that the company is in talks to move its original content division to Hackman-owned Culver Studios. Hackman also developed the headquarters of Beats By Dre, a company Apple now owns, in Culver City. The developer sold that property to IDS for $110 million in 2015.

Apple is aggressively moving into the original content space where Netflix has thrived, and recently announced it would set aside $1 billion for production. Its first endeavor is a revival of Steven Spielberg’s 1980s series “Amazing Stories,” the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. Apple will make new episodes of the show. Spielberg is expected to be an executive producer.