It has no studio tour. And there's no gift shop. But for 112 years, a gated production enclave in Echo Park has been one of the most enduring places to make movie magic in Los Angeles.
Now, Occidental Studios’ Main Lot — the shooting hub for television classic "New Girl" and where stars Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks once made silent film hits — will serve as a test of demand for production space in a region trying to overcome entertainment industry woes.
The 3-acre lot — billed as the longest continuously operating film studio in Los Angeles — is on the market for $45 million. The privately gated studio, with more than 69,000 square feet of buildings, has quietly served as a production hub as the film industry reshaped itself around it.
The lot, owned by a trust tied to Occidental Entertainment Group Holdings, has a boutique reputation, compared to larger, more commercial spaces. “It’s private, it’s intimate and it’s functional," CEO Craig Darian told CoStar News. "It feels like Old Hollywood.”
The listing comes as on-location filming in Los Angeles fell 22% in the first quarter of 2025, and as soundstage occupancy has dipped to 63%, according to nonprofit film office FilmLA. The dip comes in the wake of the pandemic, entertainment industry strikes, and rising competition from cheaper film locales such as Georgia, Canada and the United Kingdom, three regions with bigger film tax incentives than Los Angeles.
Even with the Hollywood production downturn, the studio has maintained a steady stream of users, owners say, pointing to demand from premium cable shows, commercial shoots and special events.
The campus, built in 1913 at 201 N Occidental Blvd., first hosted silent film productions — including some headed by Pickford, who was a film producer as well as a star — and more modern television productions like "New Girl," "Sharp Objects" and "Made for Love."
Owner-user play
The lot features four soundstages, including a recently constructed 15,000-square-foot stage. There’s also on-site parking, production offices, a base camp and a mill — support systems that brokers say makes it a turnkey filming environment in an era of rising production costs and logistical complexity.
Broker Nicole Mihalka of CBRE said interest is already strong among content creators and technology companies.
“It’s the only studio lot of its size available for sale or lease in Los Angeles right now,” she said. “It’s rare to find something with this level of legacy and flexibility."
The per-square-foot listing price of $651 for Occidental Studios would mark a notable sale for the region, and may be too steep for some. Industrial and office properties typically trade for half that benchmark. In one of the pricier examples of recent production real estate transactions, a group of entertainment industry heavyweights including musician John Mayer purchased the historic Henson Studios in Hollywood for $489 per square foot in December.
While it remains to be seen whether the Occidental property will generate such a price tag, "building something like this from scratch would likely cost double and take years,” Darian said. “The zoning’s already in place and the infrastructure’s built and it’s ready to go.”
Darian said the ideal buyer is an owner-user, not a passive investor merely seeking a steady annual yield.
“This is a generational asset for a company that wants to make content or create experiences, or work in a habitat perfectly suited for other technology-driven ventures,” he said.
Century of scene-stealing
Occidental Studios was once owned by Adolph Zukor before he helped found Paramount. The site has seen Hollywood legends pass through its gates, from silent film moguls to streaming-era stars.
Pickford, once known as "America's Sweetheart," worked and lived on the studio during its early years. She and her husband, Fairbanks, would go on to found the United Artists studio with Charlie Chaplin and D.W. Griffith. Director Cecil B. DeMille rented a space on the studio to film his first feature, "The Squaw Man," considered the first feature-length motion picture made in Hollywood.
Over the years, the studio has hosted television productions, housed creative offices for entertainment firms and served as a unique event space.
“One of the wildest moments was when an event company transformed the lot into an immersive experience,” Occidental Studios President Ricky Stoutland told CoStar News. “They brought in more than 100 influencers, celebrities and creators. It was surreal.”
The lot’s location in the Thirty Mile Zone gives it an edge with union crews and location managers.
“It’s minutes from Hollywood, Burbank and downtown,” Mihalka said. “But it doesn’t feel like a warehouse district. It feels like a campus.”
Behind the scenes
On a typical shoot day, as many as 300 people may be working across the lot, including background actors, script supervisors, set decorators, editors and casting directors.
“While one stage is filming, another’s being dressed and another’s being struck,” Stoutland said. “At the same time, postproduction’s reviewing dailies, writers are breaking the next episode, and casting is underway in a bungalow across the lot.”
One of the studio’s most recent investments was the construction of Stage One, a 20,000-square-foot production building that opened in 2011 at a cost of $9 million.
With four floors of offices, it’s designed to house entire creative teams from concept to delivery.
According to Darian, the mill and base camp on site are “hugely important” to clients. “It reduces the logistical headache and saves on costs,” he said.
The site spans multiple zoning designations to allow for continued studio use. While vertical expansion would require city approvals, CBRE says buyers could pursue select redevelopment opportunities or add creative office space.
Occidental’s owners say the sale isn’t about distress or divestment.
“We’ve just recognized that we’re service providers, not content creators, and market forces always require management to adapt and pivot,” said Darian. “We do have a sizable privately held portfolio of real estate and companies beyond the entertainment industry, and we recognize that this asset is better suited to be operated by a production company or other content developer."
Shifting industry
Los Angeles is in a fight to maintain its reputation as the global production capital.
State officials have introduced legislation that would broaden California’s Film & Television Tax Credit Program, even beyond a doubling of incentives proposed by the governor last year, to include greater incentives for more broad filming uses.
And Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has issued executive orders to streamline studio permitting and open city landmarks to film crews.
Yet even as some stages sit empty, developers like Stan Kroenke are moving forward with new studio campuses.
“This is an existential moment for the entertainment industry in our city,” Darian said. "Yet we remain optimistic that production and technology companies will always find Los Angeles to be an evergreen home for their creative endeavors.”