Recording studio for sale cheap

bounce · Post by **bounce** » Wed May 06, 2009 7:08 pm

Asking price is $15,000 obo

Hi. I have decided to build a mix/overdub room behind my house so I'm going to sell my current public studio business location in Los Angeles. The building itself is not for sale and NO GEAR is included. Here's what you'd be buying into:

1. A prime location in Atwater Village near Los Feliz with lots of cool art galleries, hip restaurants (Cuban, Vietnamese, Mexican, Persian, Pizza, more), and 2 coffee shops on the same block (Kaldi and Starbucks), plus more cool stuff.

2. The full build out of the studio which cost me a bundle to build. It's been great to me for 10 years now. There are 5 rooms plus a bathroom. All ceilings are 11 ft except in the main live room- 10 feet (double ceiling. new one dropped a foot down for isolation-drywall). This means you can bring in your gear and start making money immediately without the drama and delay of trying to find a place in a decent area that will let you build and is affordable and then building it.

1 control room about 16 x22,
1 main live room about 18x22,
1 iso room about 9x9,
1 "B" room 8x13, and a
1 "kitchen" lounge type area.
There is also a patio in the back that's fenced in that you can vibe out for clients.

Studio comes with 2 parking spots (one behind other config). There is PLENTY of street parking both free and metered. New central a/c and heat (gas) (about 1 year old).

3. A VERY LOW LEASE (1700 or less) for the area which is VERY hard to find as this area has been a new hotspot for a few years now and is getting even more popular daily. The lowest leases for this area are $2.50/sq. ft. and up and this place is around 1100 sq. ft. If you do the math on this buyout, you will recoup your investment in a short amount of time and be saving (i.e. making) money thereafter. The lease is a 3 year lease with renewal options. Again, I have been there ten years and the owner/building manager are very nice people that do care about the people renting their property. They let me build whatever inside the spot so you can opt to do whatever improvements you'd like pretty much. You'd need approval from them specifically for things outside and any crazy structural changes of course. My build was mostly "rooms inside of rooms".

I currently have one engineer who rents time from me monthly (for 3 years now I believe) and has his own clients. He's a great guy and would be happy to either partner up with you or rent time from you if you desire (or not).

That's the scoop. You can contact me at mckay at mckaygarner dot com.
__________________
McKay Garner
Production-Mixing-Composition
Los Angeles-Anywhere
http://www.mckaygarner.com

themagicmanmdt · Post by **themagicmanmdt** » Wed May 06, 2009 11:21 pm

not to be a prude -

but something similar happened to someone I know -

if you're getting out of your lease -

isn't the place for rent through the landlords?

why would anyone have to give you $15k if all they're getting is the lease?

can't someone simply wait for you to leave if they wanted the spot, then it comes up for rent?

bounce · Post by **bounce** » Thu May 07, 2009 12:07 am

themagicmanmdt wrote:not to be a prude -

but something similar happened to someone I know -

if you're getting out of your lease -

isn't the place for rent through the landlords?

why would anyone have to give you $15k if all they're getting is the lease?

can't someone simply wait for you to leave if they wanted the spot, then it comes up for rent?

No worries, you aren't being prude. I'm not moving because I have to and I'm not planning on it until the spot sells. Simple truth is that in this area of LA, commercial rental properties on a main street in a popular, trendy area go very fast and are in high demand. The manager of the building and I have become friends (I have been here for 10 years in this spot). She has told me that there has been a waiting list for this corner property for a few years with inquiries all the time (literally) but she knows that I run an honest business, am an honest guy, and put a LOT of work into building the place (both physically and the rep of the studio). She will work a new lease with whomever wants to buy into a prebuilt studio in a great area. You aren't just getting the lease, you are getting a prime location, all construction done for a (bring your own gear) turnkey set up that you don't have to:
A. try find in a good spot for this good a monthly lease rate,
B. find a place that will actually allow you to build and make noise in such a spot, and
C. take the time and considerable money it takes to build a place and wait to get to work in it.

I would have JUMPED at this chance if I only could have found one like it the last two times I was looking for a spot to rent a space and build a studio (13 and 10 years ago). There was nothing even close to it available for the 5 months that I looked (the 2nd time, 1st time someone else did the searching). It would have saved me some considerable time searching, planning and building the spot.

Just sayin'

Maybe I'm the only one...

atavacron · Post by **atavacron** » Thu May 07, 2009 1:40 am

I've built out a loft (not a studio, granted). We only spent a few grand on it, and when we left we were kind of like "meh" about the money - though it kind of killed me that the damn landlord kept my security deposit... But my downstairs neighbors in that location (also LA, downtown at 6th and Alameda) had spent upwards of $12K on their buildout, and i think it would have been totally reasonable for them to charge a $2500-$5000 fee to hand over the (super duper cheap, like 43 cents a square foot) lease to someone. That place was really nice.

I think if you're trying to recoup your build costs, you might get lucky and find someone who's frustrated enough with the market (for all the reasons you listed) and that person would probably pay for the privilege of not having to pay build costs. But I'm not sure if charging the actual cost of the buildout is warranted. And at some point in the next few months, you'll start building your mix/dub room because that's where your heart lays, and shortly thereafter, you'll start losing money on the space you're in currently, and it will bug the crap out of you.

I imagine that over 10 years, your buildout has long been amortized. It might be smart to instead charge a token amount for the service you are offering. Maybe an amount that could be considered as "$250 extra rent each month for the next two years," or $6000. $250 is a manageable bump in rent for most people with real clients, and two years I believe is about all that most people can plan for down the line. You can also promote this as: "Pay market rate on this space for a couple of years and then it gets cheaper."

Also, in this economy, alot of people I think have blown through their capital, and it's hard to get loans. Your offer might be more feasible in Obama's second term. (how's that one for off-topic?)

Blah blah blah. Hey, what do I know about running a studio, I'm lucky if I can even get a band to pay for my time.

bounce · Post by **bounce** » Thu May 07, 2009 9:35 am

Thanks for your input, atavacron. Well, first off the build out was much more than $12,000 so there's that. Also, the lease is at least $1000 PER MONTH less than ALL other properties in the area of comparable size so even with your proposed calculations of paying market value for a while, you'd be even in 15 months at the bottom figure. I think that's highly reasonable. Now, I am taking offers on this place and we'll see where the economy, demand, and the bottom line meet in this deal. Also, no disrespect at all because I used to live down that way a long time ago, but this is definitely not 6th and Alameda. Atwater Village isn't beverly hills but it is a cool, vibey, somewhat Silverlake meets Larchmont kinda spot these days. Location, Location, Location, right

Take care...

atavacron · Post by **atavacron** » Thu May 07, 2009 9:42 am

Oh yes, I realize! You genuinely do have a super killer rent deal there.

Actually you might do well on CraigsList with this, believe it or not. Just in the "commercial for rent" section and see what happens. Opens up the possibilities.

bounce · Post by **bounce** » Thu May 07, 2009 9:49 am

atavacron wrote:Oh yes, I realize! You genuinely do have a super killer rent deal there.

Actually you might do well on CraigsList with this, believe it or not. Just in the "commercial for rent" section and see what happens. Opens up the possibilities.

True. That's where I looked years ago when I needed a spot. Thanks

Just thought I'd throw this out on a couple forums where there are mostly guys doing what we do...

atavacron · Post by **atavacron** » Thu May 07, 2009 9:51 am

How on earth did you convince your landlord to keep the rent the same for the new tenant? You have a 20 year lease?

bounce · Post by **bounce** » Thu May 07, 2009 9:56 am

atavacron wrote:How on earth did you convince your landlord to keep the rent the same for the new tenant? You have a 20 year lease?

Believe it or not, they said they may even lower it by a hundred bucks if it's a startup. No, it's not a 20 year lease. They are definitely nice folks and just want someone to stay long term so they don't have to deal with finding people, screening them, yada yada. The owner is retired and lives in Canada and just wants his steady income. The building manager is here in LA and she's super sweet

atavacron · Post by **atavacron** » Thu May 07, 2009 11:57 am

Maybe LA's not looking so bad after all... : D

Oh and sorry for that "calcualation," that was totally off.

drumsound · Post by **drumsound** » Fri May 08, 2009 11:02 am

Can I live in the space for the first year or two?

bounce · Post by **bounce** » Fri May 08, 2009 11:14 am

drumsound wrote:Can I live in the space for the first year or two?

That would rock

But no...

atavacron · Post by **atavacron** » Fri May 08, 2009 12:47 pm

Can I magically transport the entire space to the Mission, and get the same rent?

bounce · Post by **bounce** » Fri May 08, 2009 1:18 pm

atavacron wrote:Can I magically transport the entire space to the Mission, and get the same rent?

Haha i woulda done that already if i could!
Love that place.

atavacron · Post by **atavacron** » Fri May 08, 2009 1:55 pm

Well if you do find yourself needing to record in the Bay Area, you're welcome to come check out my space. It's spartan, for sure, but it's one hell of a warehouse room sound.

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Recording studio for sale cheap

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