April 2011 - KCET Sells Sunset Blvd Studios, Moves to Burbank
Faced with new economic realities after leaving PBS, in April 2011, KCET sold its historic 40-year home on Sunset Boulevard, and made plans to move into a new, state-of-the-art studio on Alameda Avenue in Burbank.
KCET needed to raise working capital to sustain itself, and its principal asset was its 4.5-acre studio lot on 4401 W. Sunset Boulevard. Built in 1912 as a motion pictures studio, the lot was expensive to maintain and the wrong size for a television operation, especially one in the digital age. The Sunset lot, designated a Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument in 1978, was sold to the Church of Scientology, the highest of three bidders, for use as a media production facility.
The working capital raised in the studio sale allowed KCET to pay off its remaining multimillion dollar loans to PBS and a bank loan, and become debt-free.
"The sale of the lot was an indispensable part of our survival," said KCET's president and CEO Al Jerome.
The station looked toward a new, state-of-the-art, digital-ready leased facility, eliminating the costly need to transport equipment, and made a fresh new start in April 2012 at its current home at The Pointe, a modern, 15-story building on 2900 W. Alameda Avenue in Burbank's Media District, which is also the home to entertainment companies like DC Comics and FremantleMedia.
