CBS is looking to leave its longtime New York City broadcasting center, but it doesn't want to part with its real estate.
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Paramount Global, CBS' parent company, is seeking developers to become a minority joint venture partner in the blocklong site on West 57th Street between 10th and 11th avenues in Manhattan, according to a request for qualifications obtained by Bisnow. An applicant would be selected to help steer the site through a rezoning, then design and build what could be a mix of new uses, including new housing.
The company's desire to remain the majority owner of the CBS Broadcast Center site appears to be a change of heart.
CBS Entertainment President and CEO George Cheeks said in a message to employees in June that the company had engaged a real estate contractor to potentially sell the building and help it relocate, the New York Post reported. Cheeks said the company was in the early stages of the process and any timeline for a potential sale or move was “hard to predict.”
“It is true that the company has retained a real estate consultant to evaluate selling the [Broadcast Center] and to identify a new home for our teams there,” Cheeks said in the memo, according to the Post.
The bidding process is being led by a CBRE team of Doug Middleton, Eric Negrin and Darcy Stacom. Responses from developers are due by Feb. 7, according to the RFQ.
Middleton didn't return a call seeking comment. A CBRE spokesperson declined to comment. Paramount Global didn't respond to Bisnow's request for comment as of press time.
The 161K SF site could accommodate a maximum of 1.1M SF of new development, according to the RFQ, but it would require rezoning. Paramount Global is looking for developers with experience navigating the city's Uniform Land Use Review Procedure.
Developers are being asked to demonstrate their expertise in multifamily and affordable housing development, as well as condominium, office, retail, studio or life sciences real estate.
“Paramount has already begun extensive due diligence related to potential redevelopment of the Broadcast Center,” the RFQ says. “Note Paramount will be exploring alternative locations to house broadcasting facilities currently located on the site; that search is not specifically tied to the site redevelopment described herein.”
The Broadcast Center has served as the nerve center for CBS News for decades, and its nine buildings have also hosted productions such as Last Week Tonight, The Drew Barrymore Show and Desus & Mero. Some of the nine buildings on the property had previously served as facilities for the dairy farm CBS acquired them from in 1952, the New York Post previously reported.
The company was already the seller on one of the biggest Manhattan real estate deals since the onset of the pandemic when it sold its Black Rock building to Harbor Group International in 2021 for $760M. The same year, it sold its CBS Studio Center campus in Los Angeles to Hackman Capital Partners and Square Mile Capital for $1.8B.
The Post reported the company had also considered selling the West Side Broadcast Center in 2019 in a bid to raise cash. It will still have a presence in the area, having signed a five-year renewal for 182K SF at SL Green's 555 W. 57th St. building across the street a year ago.
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