General Electric Co. executives have taken initial steps to sell nearly a third of the Universal Studios’ backlot, where a developer could build a large-scale residential complex.

GE, which bought the studio from Vivendi Universal SA in 2004, has hired a brokerage firm to market a roughly 150-acre site off Barham Boulevard on the studio backlot. Also, it has informed some neighbors that the land could be sold.

NBC Universal spokeswoman Cindy Gardner said the company is undergoing an internal “needs assessment” and hasn’t made a concrete decision about what to do with the property.

“We’ve hired advisors and we are in the process of assessing all of our options,” she said. “We are looking at every opportunity.”

While a deal is still under discussion, GE executives believe the site – a hilly portion of the backlot – can support a mixed-use development containing approximately 1,000 condominiums and townhomes, several sources said.

New roads would have to be constructed to access the development. Congested thoroughfares, especially Barham Boulevard and possibly Forest Lawn Drive, would have to be expanded to handle increased traffic.

The development would use a fraction of the site, leaving much of the acreage as open space. However, a developer would still have to purchase the entire parcel, which could fetch upwards of $300 million.

The brokerage firm on the deal, Jones Lang LaSalle, has been quietly marketing the parcel for about four months, and already several developers have expressed interest.

Discussions with at least one local developer, J.H. Snyder Co. LLC, have evolved to where GE’s attorneys at Latham & Watkins have made the firm sign a confidentiality agreement, sources said.

Jerry Snyder, the firm’s principal, declined comment.

Bill Witte, a division president and managing partner of developer Related Cos., said he has been advised of the availability of the Universal site but his firm hasn’t been asked to sign a confidentiality agreement.

Witte said even though any developer would likely face entrenched community opposition and a lengthy approvals process, a final project could be very lucrative. Average size condominiums in the project would likely sell for over $1 million.

“It’s a very good location,” Witte said. “Universal controls the only significant developable land in that area. It’s very valuable.”