MGM will vacate its namesake MGM Tower in Century City and move into new office space in Beverly Hills, according to the Hollywood Reporter, which cited sources it didn't name.
The studio has reportedly signed a lease and will be moving into a six-story, 144,000 square-foot office building on Beverly Drive that was initially slated to be the William Morris Agency's new headquarters before the firm merged with Endeavor in 2009.
MGM's move comes less than a week after the company finally emerged from bankruptcy and laid off around 50 employees as part of its reorganization plan.
The studio currently leases about 200,000 square feet at the 35-story MGM Tower, and had been trying to sublease some of the office space to other parties. The company will be forced to pay a "one-time" fee to landlord JMB Realty Corp. in order to break its lease.
While the terms of MGM's lease at 235-269 N. Beverly Drive aren't yet known, the property is among the highest-profile vacant buildings in Los Angeles county and would certainly be expensive. MGM's moving date remains unclear, though newly-installed co-CEOs Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum have announced that the studio plans to release up to eight films a year starting in 2012.
