Shamrock studio plan will boost Rosecrans Corridor.

Lights! Camera! Rosecrans Corridor!

Last week's announcement that a partnership led by Roy Disney's Shamrock Holdings Inc. plans to build a $77 million production studio complex in Manhattan Beach is the latest boon to the budding corridor, which borders the cities of Manhattan Beach and El Segundo.

It also marks the most significant move to date in the emergence of L.A.'s coastal communities as an alternative location for entertainment studios, according to local experts.

"The L.A. area will have two strong entertainment districts - the Burbank area and the Westside," said Richard Gentilucci, vice president of real estate at Burbank-based Shamrock. He added that the whole South Bay will benefit economically from Manhattan Beach Studios' gravitational pull.

Shamrock and its partner in the studios project, CFN/Flesch & Neuhauser Inc. LLC, purchased the 22.5-acre project site at the southwest corner of Rosecrans and Redondo avenues from TRW Inc.

The partnership plans to develop 14 sound stages and support facilities, which are being designed by architect Bastien & Associates Inc.

Real estate professionals who work in and around the Rosecrans Corridor cheered the news.

"Century City's got nothing on the Rosecrans Corridor any more," said Craig Meyer, a veteran agent with commercial real estate brokerage The Seeley Co.

"Our phones are ringing off the hook," said Meyer, noting that he has received calls from brokers representing businesses interested in locating in or around the Rosecrans Corridor.

"They'll be ahead of DreamWorks by two years," added Brian Polkinghorne of Cushman & Wakefield Inc., referring to the long-stalled studio campus planned for DreamWorks SKG at Playa Vista (see related story, page 1).

"As Hollywood deteriorated, the entertainment industry went to Burbank, and facilities there are nearly all full now," Polkinghorne said. "Next was Westwood, West L.A., the Olympic Corridor - and now it looks like it's leap-frogging over the Marina (del Rey) and on to Manhattan Beach."

Geoff Dolan, city manager for Manhattan Beach, said the city's elected officials and residents are "extremely pleased" to have the entertainment production industry move into the neighborhood.

"The community reaction has been overwhelmingly positive, and it's great to have such an opportunity to diversify the economy," Dolan said.

Another benefit, he added, is that the city will get new jobs, while having the former TRW property developed with less intensity than is allowed under a 1984 development agreement.

The announcement "validates the market trends that have been occurring in the immediate marketplace along Rosecrans, which is truly a new commercial center for the South Bay," Meyer said.

The Shamrock announcement "represents the continuing shift in (L.A.'s economic) center of gravity - the area from Santa Monica through Palos Verdes is emerging as the most desirable place to live and do business."

Gentilucci, who will oversee development of Manhattan Beach Studios, said that shift is a major reason for Shamrock's decision to develop the studios facility along the Rosecrans Corridor. Another reason, of course, is the fact that nearly every local production facility is booked solid.

"The entertainment industry is moving into the Westside, and lots of people who live in the area would like to work there too," Gentilucci noted. "And I think we've captured a piece of property that helps accommodate that need."

He added that new regulations pertaining to television station ownership of programming are increasing demand for production space from independent producers.

Network-owned stations can now produce and own programming, "and that is forcing independent production companies off the (network) studio lots - and they won't have any place to go," Gentilucci explained.

He added that TRW's pre-existing development agreement with the City of Manhattan Beach allows the property to be used as a studio facility. That agreement also allows for some 965,000 square feet of development, although the Manhattan Beach Studios plan calls for just 550,000 square feet.

The first phase, slated to get under way next July, includes six sound stages, theatrical offices and other production support facilities. Total planned buildout includes 14 stages, 250,000 square feet of offices, a commissary, parking and other production facilities.

C&W's Polkinghorne said new businesses along Rosecrans are already doing well - and should do even better when the new studio gets going.

"More executive types will move into the area, and we'll see production companies, computer animation specialists and the like locate around here as well. And they all need to eat, go to the bank, etc.," Polinghorne said.