Wednesday, February 06, 2019

Update on what's happening

Hello there friends! I hope you're doing great. Can't believe we're well into February already! I want to give you some news as to what's going on in my world and how it's affecting things.

The building I've been conducting my school from for the past 14 years was sold this past December. The new owners are a large company that purchases properties in the Hollywood / LA area and converts them to post-production facilities. They've expanded into Burbank with the acquisition of our building and as such all of the tenants were given a 30 day notice to vacate the day after Christmas. So since Dec 26 I've been on top of the situation hunting down a new location for the school and negotiating the terms of the lease and then moving everything over to the new place.

It's been a brutal experience folks let me tell you. Very physically taxing and all the while dealing with a nasty cold that had me down for the count and then returning again as I kept at the transition to the school's new location. 

It looks like we're coming to the end of it all and I think in a few more days the move will be complete. Once it's done I'll be able to operate much more efficiently and perhaps notch my creative time up a bit. If you'd like to see what the new place looks like follow this link to The Animation Academy's blog. I have some pictures posted there. It's pretty nice and a definite improvement over where I was before.

So that's what's up all you great people! A little while longer and we'll be back to having fun. As always thanks for checking in and thanks for your attention. I appreciate you visiting my humble little blog!

7 comments:

Landon Kemp said...

Is that one of the reasons why you had to move? Because someone bought the building? Whatever the case, it sounds like the transition is almost completed, so that's good to know.

Charles Z said...

Hey Landon. Yes we had to move because of the new owners. They're converting the old building to post-production facilities. So the only ones who'll be able to lease space will be groups involved with that end of motion picture / film / video / TV production etc. Everyone has to go not just us. They're going to break everything down to the structure's framework and redesign the interior areas.

Most of the tenants had been there for many years. Some since the building was first constructed in 1984. And we're all getting sticker as the price for office space in Burbank has become very expensive. I negotiated a pretty good deal on the new space for the Academy but it's still pricey. I'm confident it'll work out. The facility is very nice. Better than what we had before. Students are happy and that's what matters.

Anonymous said...

Man that must have been a rough Christmas for you guys, you especially since you had to find a new building.
I'm happy you found somewhere new to host your classes anyway, and I'm also happy that you found something even better than the previous space.
Hope to see more sketches from your classes here ;)

Charles Z said...

Hey Gabriele. Yes it was a rough one. The day right after Christmas. As soon as I got the knock on the door and was handed the notice to vacate I got on the phone and moved very fast. Fortunately since it was the holidays everyone was kind of taking it easy. Because I was pro-active I got a quality office space.

Check this out... The company right below me at the old location (electrical engineers) submitted a proposal on the same space. They were surprised that it had already been rented. When they found out it was me they were even more shocked. So in a way the Christmas / New Year time span worked in my favor as it gave me time to take action that everyone else was using to relax.

Quick update... Almost finished with the move! It'll be wrapped up this week. Can't wait to get the ordeal behind me!

Anonymous said...

So it was a fortune that you got the notice around that time in a way, so you could act as fast as possible when nobody else was doing it!
I hope we will see pictures of the new workspace here too :)

Charles Z said...

Yes you could certainly say it was fortunate. Actually I had some help in dreams. I saw there was a group that was looking at the same space I was negotiating for. When I woke I knew I had to act even faster. So I pushed to wrap up the lease and signed it a couple of days later securing the new location.

Believe it or not when I spoke to the electrical engineers I referred to above and they mentioned they were looking at office space in the same location I realized they were the ones I saw in the dream. So I had some strange help in getting the place.

So far it's working out nicely and I'm close to completing the move.

Anonymous said...

That's really nice to know :)