Designed by Edward Lescaze, the five-story Columbia Square building on Sunset Boulevard cannot be torn down without an environmental-imapct study.

Another radio star could soon be killed—not by video this time, but by development.

Hollywood's 1938 Columbia Square will be vacant in a few months after Los Angeles television stations KCBS and KCAL relocate to a new building next to the CBS Studio Center in Studio City, Calif. The city's first radio station, KNX-AM, moved out in August.

"The building's future is very much in question," says Ken Bernstein, director of preservation issues at the Los Angeles Conservancy. While no specific proposals have been made, residential, commercial, and big-box retail development have all been discussed, Bernstein says.

The Los Angeles Conservancy is working with city officials to find a new purpose for Columbia Square. The good news is that since the building is classified as a historic resource for a Hollywood redevelopment plan, it can't be demolished without an environmental-impact review conducted first.

Situated on the former site of Los Angeles' very first movie studio, Nestor Film Company, the William Lescaze-designed structure already had a past when it was built in 1938. The pilot for "I Love Lucy" was filmed in the eight-studio facility; James Dean ushered there; and in its early days, long lines of fans would wait outside for live broadcasts by Gene Autry, Rosemary Clooney, and Orson Welles. Many radio classics, including the George Burns & Gracie Allen Show and the Bing Crosby Show, were recorded at Columbia Square.

"It's an important site in entertainment history for both Hollywood and the nation," Bernstein says, pointing out that it is also one of Los Angeles' earliest International-style structures.

The conservancy is interested in an adaptive-reuse plan that could involve turning Columbia Square, along with the nearby historic Hollywood Palladium performance venue, into an entertainment complex of sorts, Bernstein says. "We're looking at how we could assemble that whole stretch of Sunset Boulevard."

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