Amazon Studios to expand and relocate to Culver City

CULVER CITY, Calif. (FOX 11 / CNS) - Amazon on Monday confirmed long-rumored plans to occupy more than 280,000 square feet on the Culver Studios lot, including the iconic "Gone with the Wind" mansion and bungalows.

"Amazon's new Culver City offices will bring space for new jobs in a wide variety of roles, including creative, technical, marketing and legal," for Amazon Studios, IMDb, Amazon Video and World Wide Advertising, according to a company statement.

"We are very excited about being a part of 100 years of movie and TV history at the Culver Studios," said Albert Cheng, head of Amazon Studios. "Most importantly, this new L.A.-based office will give us the much needed space for our team to work and grow so we can keep bringing Prime members the very best in series and movies."

Amazon, which currently employs more than 700 people in Santa Monica, will begin moving into the Culver City offices at the end of this year. Currently owned by an affiliate of Hackman Capital Partners, Amazon's new office space at 9336 W. Washington Blvd. was originally developed in 1918 by silent movie pioneer Thomas H. Ince, and the mansion -- modeled after George Washington's Mount Vernon -- was the first building to be constructed on the lot.

The white columned structure was once the headquarters for famed Hollywood producers David O. Selznick and Cecil B. DeMille and was used as the backdrop in the opening credits of "Gone with the Wind," the 1939 Civil War period drama produced by Selznick International Studios.

"A Star is Born" and "Rebecca" are among the classics from Hollywood's Golden Age to be filmed on the lot, which has also been home to such television shows as "The Andy Griffith Show," "Lassie," "Batman," and, more recently, "Scrubs," "Arrested Development" and "Cougar Town."