While construction is underway on The Lot at the historic Pickford-Fairbanks Studios, preservation activists continue to take steps to protect the still-standing historic buildings.
Preservation group Save Pickfair Studios said it is working with Dominick Fairbanks, Douglas Fairbanks’s great grandchild, to compile information for a preservation order at the state and national levels. Save Pickfair Studio member Sal Gomez said the preservation group took these steps after two buildings were demolished as part of property owner CIM Group’s development project on Formosa Ave., next to The Lot’s main gate.
Gomez said the demolished buildings included the Mary Pickford Building, which housed production offices, and the Goldwyn Building, which housed a mixing stage.
CIM Group said it is at work on a five-story media office building that will be nearly 93,000-square-feet, but a representative for the property owner did not give a timeline for completion.
Gomez said Save Pickfair Studios does not expect any other buildings to be demolished until the current CIM Group project is complete.
“They want to finish this project first and then see where they’re at. It’s always been a question of financing with them because they’re constantly buying properties and then selling properties, and they don’t have enough cash flow,” Gomez said.
CIM Group did not comment on the finances of the project
