Making the scene: Hollywood cleans up its act and production studio returns.

COMMERCIAL producer Phyllis Koenig spent the last eight years working in Santa Monica.

She hated her commute and the distance from Hollywood, which she regards as the center of the entertainment universe, having come up in the industry there.

So earlier this year, when she and a partner decided to start their own company, Uber Content, their choice for a locale was Hollywood.

Koenig's company now occupies 4,000 square feet of office space on the lot at Hollywood Center Studios. One of the big reasons Koenig brought her business to Hollywood is the area's suddenly hip atmosphere. The biggest reason, however, was the proximity to film labs, post houses and lighting equipment rental outlets.

"I'm so thrilled to be back on this side of town," she said. "The area's resurgence is such a welcome reality. There was a point where I was waving the flag, but still not completely sure it would happen."

Koenig is one of a growing number of producers returning to Hollywood. Mid-sized independent studios like Sunset Gower and Hollywood Center are leading the return of the production business that fled during an economic downturn in the late 1990s, when urban blight hit its peak.

The independent facilities rent out their sound stages and on-lot offices for assorted commercial, television and movie productions, and rely on short-term occupants to keep them busy during the year. Hollywood's improved image is luring back production business that fled to the Westside about five years ago.

"It was a really tough area, and much of the (production) base wanted to go to the Westside because it was more desirable, just viewed as a nicer area," said Jack Kyser, chief economist of the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp., which once had offices in the Hollywood area.

Pulling together

Coordinated efforts by politicians, police and the business community in recent years has helped the city clean up gritty, crime-ridden streets and bring in retail and commercial development. The chic nightlife and ambience is now the envy of neighboring cities.

"There are new restaurants, hot clubs, and so many new things like apartments, condos and retail development that are attracting a lot of attention from different kinds of business," said Bob Papazian, chief executive of Sunset Gower Studios. According to Kyser and studio executives, the formation of business improvement districts--in particular the 1996 Hollywood Entertainment District--and subsequent retail and commercial developments were instrumental in resuscitating area commerce.

"There was a point in time where everybody thought the sky was falling, and the (districts) have gone a long way to try to improve that image of Hollywood," said Tim Mahoney, executive vice-president of Hollywood Center Studios.

The entertainment district covers 18 linear blocks along Hollywood Boulevard, and the district assessment raises about $2.3 million a year from 175 property owners. Most of that money goes to security and area upkeep.

A Media District was formed in 2000, specifically targeting the area south of the entertainment district. It's a roughly 40-block area between Fountain Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard bounded by Melrose Avenue on the south and La Brea Avenue to the east. The district brings in $1.1 million in annual assessments.

Another reason for the comeback of the area is that office rental prices are considerably lower than in Santa Monica and other Westside areas. The average price of commercial office space in Santa Monica was $3.48 per square foot, compared with $2.54 in Hollywood over the same period in 2005, according to the most recent available data.

"Santa Monica has the highest rents in the region for that kind of space, about 25 to 30 percent higher than Hollywood," said Christopher Bonbright, chief executive of Ramsey-Shilling Commercial Real Estate. "I think part of the rationale for the prices is the Pacific Ocean overlook, but Hollywood now is a very amenity-rich environment, convenient for the entertainment industry, and has become competitive from a lifestyle point of view."

Commercial breaks

Hollywood Center owner and President Alan Singer said that at one point in the mid- to late-1990s, commercials made up about 40 percent of the studio's business, with TV representing another 40 percent and feature film production the remaining 20 percent.

The studio has been home to television series "Mad TV" and Disney's "That's So Raven," as well as films including "Zoolander."

"After 2001, that commercial business really took a big dive, along with the economy as a whole," said Hollywood Center's Mahoney, who is also president of the media business improvement district's board of directors. In the past two years, things have really picked up at the Las Palmas facility.

"It's been quite a bit busier with commercials over the past couple years. We still do a lot of television and movies, but commercial production has really come back," Mahoney said.

The majority of the filming at Sunset Gower, the former Columbia Pictures studio, has been for TV series like "JAG" and "Six Feet Under," and well as feature film work.

"For a time there, everyone migrated to the Westside and headed in that direction, and we really had to make a big push On marketing the studios," Papazian said. "It was hard work."

Last year, the facility's soundstages began to draw interest from commercial production companies and Sunset Gower's executives are hoping to lure more of them.

"A commercial is in here a week, then they leave," Papazian said, "so work like that can help soften the blow and fill the holes when a longer-term tenant, like a television series, leaves."

Sunset Gower anticipates that new facilities may help make the lot even more appealing. Plans are being finalized for a $40 million facility on the property for post-production, editing and dubbing.

ANNE RILEY-KATZ Staff Reporter