Bain Capital Real Estate, the real estate investing business of Bain Capital, and Bardas Investment Group, a boutique real estate
development and investment firm, have submitted plans to the City of Los Angeles to invest $450 million to develop Echelon Studios, a five-acre site at 5601 Santa Monica Boulevard. The urban studio campus will feature four 19,000-square-foot sound stages, a 15,000-square-foot flex stage, and a 90,000-square-foot village of bungalows uniquely located above Hollywood.

Bain Capital Real Estate and Bardas IG formed a joint venture in 2019 to pursue opportunities to acquire, renovate, develop and operate creative office and other production space targeted to companies in the content and media industry.

“The increase in demand for new content and limited existing studio and production space is generating competition in the market,” said David Simon, founder and managing principal of Bardas Investment Group. “Leveraging our unique knowledge of the media and entertainment sectors, along with Bain Capital Real Estate’s strategic and operational capabilities, we are well positioned to deliver high quality product to
meet the demand from the content creation industry.”

“We believe the intense growth from the digitalization of content presents a compelling opportunity to create a uniquely integrated platform that partners with tenants to develop an unmatched experience,” said Joe Marconi, a Managing Director at Bain Capital Real Estate. “Our partnership with David and BIG not only brings unparalleled experienced in the Los Angeles market, but also an aligned investment approach and customer-centric strategy to provide bespoke real estate environments to the content and media industry.”

In conjunction with the development plans, Bain Capital Real Estate and Bardas IG also announced the launch of Echelon, the real estate industry’s first content media real estate platform that will serve as the brand for the joint venture’s investments.