Streaming service Netflix recently signed a lease for a new Burbank office, according to a news report.
The office is located at 2300 W. Empire Ave., near the Burbank Empire Center, said an article from real estate news website CoStar News on Monday. The site called the lease Netflix’s “most aggressive move into a territory dominated by its rivals.” A recent tweet from the official Burbank Twitter account called the newly leased space “Netflix’s first dedicated Animation studio.”
Netflix is leasing about 151,000 square feet, according to Simone McFarland, Burbank’s assistant community development director and communications manager, who said the “Media Capital of the World” has been working with the streamer on its leasing plans for months under “tenant improvements” and possible building adjustments.
Steve Kaplan, business representative for International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 839, a Burbank-based guild and union for animators, said the move reconfirms the city’s identity as a central location for media.
“I think this commitment to Burbank shows that Burbank has been identified as kind of a hub for animation work in Los Angeles,” he said in a phone interview. “Because the workforce is somewhat central to this location, and therefore to plant the flag at the Empire Center really highlights the importance of the city in regards to the work.”
CoStar News also reported that the company plans to expand to an additional 20,000 square feet in the building, though McFarland could not confirm that assertion due to not having seen the lease.
The streamer giant is also leasing a temporary space at the Burbank Studios, she added. Then-Mayor Emily Gabel-Luddy announced that deal in 2019, saying Netflix had agreed to lease 60,000 square feet in the city for two years.
A Netflix spokesman declined to comment on the newly reported lease.
Burbank has long been a hub for the film industry, serving as the site of Warner Bros. and Walt Disney Co. headquarters. It is also home to Cartoon Network Studios and Nickelodeon Animation Studio, and formerly hosted Columbia Pictures and NBC’s “The Tonight Show.”
