The US owners of the proposed Sunset Waltham Cross Studios project near London are now exploring other uses for the site, according to the local council for the Hertfordshire town where the £700m development was to have been built.
A statement posted on the Borough of Broxbourne web site on March 17 says that Hudson Pacific Properties and Blackstone, partners in the joint venture behind the project, have “informed the Council that they are exploring alternative uses for the site.”
The statement quotes the joint venture partners saying they “share [the Council’s] disappointment that a studio development is no longer feasible at this time given market conditions. We are determined to work with the Council to secure the best possible alternative use for the site to support economic prosperity for the local community.”
A Hudson Pacific Properties representative in the US had not responded to a request for comment at press time.
First announced in 2021, Sunset Waltham Cross Studios was to have been a 1.2m square foot facility with 21 sound stages as well as offices, workshops and production support. The project had been billed as contributing £300m a year to the local economy and creating 4,500 jobs.
Development of the site was paused in 2023 as film and TV production levels declined with the end of the peak TV boom and the Hollywood actors and writers strikes.
The development would have been the first expansion outside the US of Hudson’s Sunset Studios group, which operates four studio sites in Los Angeles and recently began construction on Sunset Pier 94 Studios in New York City.
The Borough of Broxbourne statement says the site had been allocated as a “strategic employment site” and that the council “will now work closely with the owners to ensure that its future use is in line with that allocation.”
Council leader Mark Mills-Bishop is quoted in the statement saying, “I am extremely disappointed to learn that the planned Sunset Studios facility will now not proceed. It is my understanding that the market conditions are currently not favourable for new film studios across the UK. The decision may well be taken out of my hands if a large unitary council replaces the Borough of Broxbourne as part of Local Government Reorganisation, but I will do everything I can to ensure that future development on that site provides the best possible economic opportunities for the residents of Broxbourne.”
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