It’s now a done deal. Time Warner has sold its iconic Manhattan building at Columbus Circle and is already preparing a move 30 blocks south to the as yet undeveloped Hudson Yards neighborhood. Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes sent an email to staff this afternoon letting them know about the move, which is still years away.
“[W]e’re moving forward with a plan to relocate our New York City-based employees at Corporate, HBO, Turner, and Warner Bros. to a new building beginning in late 2018,” Bewkes writes. “[O]ur company currently occupies seven buildings in Manhattan, including our space in Time Warner Center. We expect that moving into a single location will save us three-quarters of a billion dollars in ongoing real estate costs over the next 20 years, which we can reallocate to doing more of what we do best – creating and sharing high-quality entertainment and journalism through great storytelling.”
The Time Warner Center news comes a day after Comcast, the owner of NBC, announced it was building a new state-of-the art facility in what will be Philadelphia’s tallest building. TVSpy has more on the Comcast Innovation and Technology Center.
Bewkes’ note after the jump…
January 16, 2014
To: Time Warner Colleagues
From: Jeff Bewkes
Subject: Our New Headquarters
I’m excited to share the news that we have sold our space in Time Warner Center and are pursuing a plan to move to a new global headquarters in the Hudson Yards development on the West Side of Manhattan.
After two years of research and planning – including input from across our divisions and many of you – we’re moving forward with a plan to relocate our New York City-based employees at Corporate, HBO, Turner, and Warner Bros. to a new building beginning in late 2018. We will remain in our current locations, including Time Warner Center, until our new home is ready for us to move in. Time Inc. is working on its own real estate plans as it prepares to become an independent, publicly traded company.
Today, we announced the sale of our office space in Time Warner Center, and we have taken initial steps to acquire space in a new building that will be constructed on the southwest corner of 10th Avenue and 33rd Street in New York City’s Hudson Yards development.
As I wrote to you in September 2011 when we began this process, our company currently occupies seven buildings in Manhattan, including our space in Time Warner Center. We expect that moving into a single location will save us three-quarters of a billion dollars in ongoing real estate costs over the next 20 years, which we can reallocate to doing more of what we do best – creating and sharing high-quality entertainment and journalism through great storytelling.
While each division will have its own space designed to preserve the individual identity of our brands, I’m excited that we’ll also be under one roof working in new, state-of-the-art office spaces and enabling even greater collaboration and cross-divisional creativity.
Our real estate team, led by Tom Santiago, Time Warner’s Senior Vice President, Global Real Estate, will continue to provide you with updates as we move ahead. In the meantime, please click here to view the press release issued today and go to the Real Estate section of MyTW for answers to Frequently Asked Questions.
A lot of great work has been done to get us to this point, and we are very pleased with the terms we have received for selling our space in Time Warner Center. We still have a long road ahead, including finalizing our agreement regarding the new building. Beyond that, there will be more detailed design, planning and, of course, construction before anyone moves to the new location about five years from now. But the result will be worth all the effort – a New York home befitting the leading global media company of the 21st century.