Silvercup Studios, Where 'The Sopranos' and 'Succession' Were Filmed, Selling For $500M
One of the city’s best-known film and television studios is under contract for half a billion dollars, as investors increasingly see real estate for content production as a sure bet.
A group of investors led by Los Angeles-based Hackman Capital Partners has reached a deal to pay $500M for Silvercup Studios, The Wall Street Journal reports. The company owns production space in Queens and the Bronx, with a total of 23 shooting stages.
The deal is set to close by the end of the month, per the WSJ, in a deal brokered by Eastdil Secured. Alan Suna, who owns Silvercup with his brother, Stuart, didn't immediately respond to Bisnow’s request for comment.
Silvercup Studios has hosted productions of some of the past few decades' most popular films and TV shows, including The Sopranos, Sex and the City, 30 Rock, The Devil Wears Prada, When Harry Met Sally and Gangs of New York. More recently, HBO's Succession, which was filmed at Silvercup, won the Primetime Emmy on Sunday for Best Drama.
Studio space is increasingly viewed as a highly valuable real estate asset as places to create content becoming part of streaming services’ competitive edge in the battle for viewers. In recent years, the so-called streaming wars have intensified, as multiple players, including The Walt Disney Co.’s Disney+, NBC’s Peacock, AT&T’s HBO Max, Quibi and Apple TV+, have launched on the market.
These companies want to build and control their own production space and creative hubs for their talent — pushing up the value of the real estate they occupy, as Bisnow has previously reported.
“[It used to be] if you had a well-located studio or production space in Los Angeles or New York, you would have six-month arrangements with productions or a year arrangement with productions, perhaps a little bit longer; they weren't long-term lease arrangements,” Square Mile Capital CEO Craig Solomon said last year, describing the sector as cycle resistant. "That is beginning to change.”
Square Mile is reportedly partnering with Hackman on the Silvercup deal, along with the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, an affiliate of the United Services Automobile Association and Canada-based PSP Investments. Solomon didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Last year, Square Mile partnered with Hackman to buy MBS Group's portfolio from the Carlyle Group, which includes the MBS Campus, a 587K SF studio facility in Manhattan Beach, California.
Along with Silvercup, New York is home to Steiner Studios, which was selected by the city to build new studio space in Sunset Park, and Kaufman Astoria Studios, which is also in Queens. Last year, Wildflower Ltd., Robert De Niro, his son, Raphael, and producer Jane Rosenthal announced plans for a new $400M film production facility in Astoria.
