NORTHEAST VALLEY 'PROPPING UP' HOLLYWOOD.

Byline: GREGORY J. WILCOX Real Estate

The northeast San Fernando Valley is going Hollywood.

Thanks to available buildings and open space to build on, companies that provide key support services to the entertainment industry are moving into the region.

And developers are taking notice.

``There have been a number of studio-related companies that are expanding into that area,'' said Jerry Scullin, executive vice president of Van Nuys-based Delphi Business Properties.

The old real estate axiom of location certainly applies here.

``It's close to the studios and it is certainly less expensive than the Burbank proper area,'' he said.

``They say that the studios will only go to those prop houses and support entities that are within a certain geographic area. They won't travel any further than they have to, so (the businesses) are all clustered in that area of Sun Valley, North Hollywood and Burbank.''

The big prop house Independent Studio Services Inc. is a case in point.

ISS has been housed in three buildings totaling about 45,000 square feet in Sun Valley but recently spent about $6.5 million for a 105,257- square-foot building in the 9500 block of Wentworth Street in Sunland.

Scullin and David Hoffberg of Delphi represented ISS in the transaction and Dave Maron of Stevenson Real Estate Services represented Pepom-Merhi Productions, the seller.

About 100 people will work at the new facility.

ISS Executive Vice President Gregg Bilson Jr. said in a statement that the company needed room to grow.

Founded in a garage 25 years ago by his father, the company's business also includes prop research, manufacturing, set decorating and computer graphics.

``For some time, we have been seeking to bring all our activities under one roof, but parking capacity has always been a drawback,'' he said.

The new facility has ample parking, he said.

Delphi is marketing the three buildings ISS vacated and all are in escrow, Scullin said.

A few miles away near the border of Burbank, Woodland Hills-based Voit Cos. is getting ready to start building a 480,000-square-foot project targeted at the entertainment industry.

The project in the 7500 block of San Fernando Road is next to the Burbank Airport runways on 22 acres where Lockheed Corp. used to have some operations.

The company is planning about 16 buildings of various sizes.

Voit hopes to have the project completed by the end of next year, said Tim Regan, the company's vice president of development and acquisitions.

And he's relatively confident this product won't sit on the market for very long once it's built.

``There are not too many 22-acre parcels available to build a business park on and we're seeing a lot of studio-related companies kind of strapped for space,'' he said.