Is it the end for Amoeba?

There have been a lot of rumors lately about Los Angeles losing one of its best and last record stores for purchasing dance music. The office of Los Angeles councilman Mitch O’Farrell has confirmed that the iconic record store building, Amoeba Music on Sunset Boulevard, has in fact been sold. O’Farrell’s communications director said, “Amoeba Records voluntarily decided to sell the property.”

The selling of the building was discovered when the architectural illustration firm, Shimahara, posted a rendering on their website that had Amoeba’s address. The rendering shows a tall glass building towering above the CNN building that lives across the street from the famous 6400 Sunset Boulevard address and was created for the LA architecture firm Johnson Fain. Public records show that the Amoeba building was purchased by a developer for GPI Companies for $34 million in October of last year.

GPI has made no plans of breaking ground anytime soon and may not even decide to proceed with the redevelopment. Councilman O’Farrell’s office has confirmed this in their following statement, “The developer has come to our office with ideas, but nothing has been filed with the city.” Amoeba’s employees have also been unaware of any potential moving or closure, which is not surprising as companies generally keep their staff in the dark until the last minute before changes are made like lay-offs.

Due to the major outcry and public interest about possibly losing Amoeba, the record store released a statement via Facebook to clarify the situation. The post reads as follows:

“Y’all are asking questions about the article today…

We’re going to remain in our building for the duration of our lease – which is several years – and Amoeba and the building owner are open to us potentially staying longer.

We are committed to staying in Hollywood and we appreciate all your concern and support!”