Vancouver: Lionsgate Entertainment is closing the gates on its North Vancouver studios, and on March 15 will hand over the keys to B.C. real estate firm Bosa Development for $46.1 million.

The deal leaves the B.C.- and California-based company with almost no Canadian holdings, but for its 10% stake in its distributor spin-off Maple Pictures.

‘This was a good opportunity to generate cash from a non-core asset and concentrate on our core businesses, which the studios aren’t,’ says Lionsgate spokesperson Peter Wilkes. ‘They generate less than 1% revenue for us. The majority of our revenue comes from the production and distribution of feature films and television programming.’

Wilkes adds that ‘the bulk of productions at the studios were for third-party businesses, not us.’ Lionsgate spent about $70 million on productions in Canada last year and Wilkes expects the same for the next two years.

Bosa says it will keep the 14-acre site as a studio space. ‘We want to grow the business and be the number-one provider of production space in B.C.,’ says VP of real estate acquisitions Richard Weir, adding that the recent extension of B.C.’s tax credits made the decision ‘an easy one.’

Bosa also owns Mammoth Studios in Burnaby, B.C., which has the largest soundstages in Canada and has hosted such shoots as X-Men 2 and Fantastic Four.

Bosa plans to merge the two studios under one new brand, to be revealed later, and one management team. Lionsgate Studios head Peter Leitch will take up the reins of what will now be Canada’s largest studio company, with more than 500,000 square feet of soundstages and production space.

No jobs will be lost, says Bosa.

Originally called North Shore Studios, Lions Gate Studios opened in the summer of 1989, built by Hollywood producer Stephen J. Cannell and Toronto-based Comweb Group. The studio is perhaps best known as the home of the The X-Files and as a catalyst for the province’s $1-billion per year industry.

www.lionsgate.com