'Hunger Games' entertainment center to rise in Times Square - New York Post

Forget Disneyfication — Lionsgate Entertainment is the next big Hollywood studio coming to “The Deuce,” the once-seedy, now-glam block of West 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues.

In a coup for Steven Pozycki’s SJP Properties, Spain’s leading leisure-park operator, Parques Reunidos, has signed a huge retail lease for 45,000 square feet on three floors of SJP’s 11 Times Square.

The space, on the southeast corner of 42nd and Eighth, will become Lionsgate Entertainment City — an interactive, “experiential” attraction to highlight the studio’s film and television programming, including “The Hunger Games,” “Divergent” and “Twilight.”

Parques Reunidos made a deal in November with Lionsgate to develop Lionsgate-themed entertainment centers around the world. The Spanish firm also operates dozens of entertainment venues, including amusement parks, water parks and zoos that draw 20 million people a year.

The Times Square-area location will boast 13 different attractions aimed at teens and young adults, the companies said. The build-out is expected to take two years and cost around $30 million — a figure that doesn’t include the cost of the lease.

The 1.1 million-square-foot tower’s office floors are nearly full with major firms including the Proskauer Rose law firm, Microsoft and Moore Capital.

But its retail space has been a challenge. The failure of two restaurant tenants, Urbo and Señor Frog’s, left SJP and its 11 Times Square Partners — PGIM and Norges Bank — with nearly 50,000 square feet of retail to fill.

An RKF team led by Robert K. Futterman represented both sides of the new transaction.