Hope for Hollywood: Ambitious developer unveils his $450million ‘old school’ plan to save the movie business and stop Gavin Newsom’s California from hemorrhaging money

Echelon Studios Hollywood has all the makings of a large studio lot, but it's stacked in a vertical industrial building. It's a 10-acre studio stacked into a five-acre site, architect Andrew Wright of RIOS told The Los Angeles Times. 'Everything is crammed as tight as it can possibly go,' Wright told the outlet. Landlord and developer, David Simon, is ignoring the many warnings in his ear about Hollywood no longer being what it used to be and instead taking the plunge to invest in the market.

Simon believes in the magic of Hollywood and says artists

Simon believes in the magic of Hollywood and says artists want the opportunity to create close to home. So he came up with the idea of knocking down an old Sears building on Santa Monica Boulevard to build a new kind of studio, which is set to open next year. The project first launched five years ago when cash-flush streamers, like Netflix, were cranking out new projects at an insane pace. Echelon Studios Hollywood is a 10-acre studio lot cramped into a five-acre one, architect Andrew Wright of RIOS said The studio will include multiple soundproof stages It will also feature office space, a cafe and screening rooms Despite that gold rush slowing down in recent years, Simon still believes there's a future for his studio in Hollywood – even with feature films shoots being down 20 percent in the second quarter this year, according to a report by FilmLA, a nonprofit.

TV shoots are down 30 percent, the nonprofit said. Simon believes there will be a steady amount of shows and movies being made in California, and he thinks Echelon will stand out compared to other studios. Plus, the expanded tax credits and a potential 20 percent federal tax credit for filming is bringing the interest back to Los Angeles. 'Everybody I talk to in this industry would like nothing more than to stay home and film in LA,' Jamie Crosbie, a film and TV executive who will be head of studio operations at Echelon, told The Times.

What we know

Key details

Echelon Studios will have five soundstages and support facilities, as well as a base camp for trucks and equipment. The 600,000sq ft space will also host a cafe and screening rooms, The Times reported. It will also feature old-style bungalows at the top of the building, which once served as offices and dressing space. Over time, it became a sanctuary for elite talent and writers and producers.

'Every production team wanted to live in one for a year while they filmed their production. We built this neighborhood in the sky based on this extremely Hollywood typology.' Their hardest challenge was soundproofing the stage, especially with their proximity to the parking lot. 'Soundstages are acoustically isolated boxes, and any adjacent vibration is a risk to compromise the building,' Wright told the outlet. They landed on creating layers of insulation, drywall and thick concrete to block out the vehicles below.

And Simon, nor his company Bardas Investment Group, is planning on stopping after Echelon. Simon is currently planning a $600 million renovation and expansion at the Television Center, which will be an expansion of Echelon, he told The Times. As for now, he already has potential tenants taking tours of his upcoming studios and in talks about leasing space. There will also be old-fashioned bungalows at the top of the building 'People fell in love with them, and so they became the premier real estate on the lot,' Wright told The Times 'Hollywood is the greatest brand in the world.

It’s not only a place, it’s an industry,' he told The Times. Simon's investment comes as California is seeing a mass exodus of residents due to crime. A total of 53,934 people left Los Angeles County between July 2024 and July 2025, according to latest population data from the US Census. Former residents who spoke to the Daily Mail in April blamed high rents and crime-ridden streets for their decision to abandon the Democrat-run city, which is also in the grip of a joblessness crunch.

Why it matters

Sherly Rivera Feher, 30, moved from Koreatown in LA to Overland Park, Kansas, in December. The native Angeleno had finally had enough. Feher told the Daily Mail that she and her husband were begrudgingly paying $3,800 a month for their two-bedroom apartment near Glendale that was steps away from a number of homeless people and prostitutes. 'It started to get really pricey, and we also just didn't feel safe at all,' Feher said.

'Paying that much, we were hoping to at least get some safety as well… There are needles on the floor and everything [in Koreatown], and just a lot of the mental illness and drug addiction out there.' Governor Gavin Newsom has seen thousands leave in recent years as many complain about crime rates Echelon is expected to open next year, despite the mass exodus of citizens from the state Matthew Thomas recently moved to Illinois from LA after spending a decade in the City of Angels and even raising a daughter there.