The Warner Music Group, the world’s third largest record company, is moving from its long-time headquarters at 75 Rockefeller Center and relocating to 1633 Broadway Tower, according to an Oct. 1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The new space, located between 50th and 51st Streets, has nearly 300,000 square feet of office space and will cost “approximately $16 million in annual rent, in addition to its pro rata share of certain real property taxes, operating expenses and common area maintenance expenses,” according to the filing. The lease runs for approximately 16 years from on or about Jan, 1, 2014 to July 31 2029 and WMG will be spread out amongst six floors.
WMG, however, isn’t planning to move until mid-2014, a Warner Music spokesperson told Billboard, when it will consolidate its New York offices under one roof – including its worldwide headquarters at 75 Rockefeller Plaza and its offices at 1290 Avenue of the Americas. This includes WMG staff, Atlantic Records, Warner/Chappell and Warner Bros Records employees.
“Paramount Plaza will serve as an excellent global headquarters, providing us the opportunity to unite all of our New York teams in one central location right in the heart of Manhattan,” a Warner Music spokesperson said. “We see it as a great fit to help bring our people closer together, while fostering the unique cultures of our different labels and business units.”
Paramount Plaza is a 48-story skyscraper and in 2007 it was listed as number 46 on the list of tallest buildings in New York City.
Warner Music is not the first major record company in New York this year to move headquarters. In January, Sony Corp, sold its US headquarters at 550 Madison for $1.1 billion to a consortium of investors led by the Chetrit Group. Sony companies, including Sony Music Entertainment and Sony/ATV Music Publishing, will remain in the building for up to three years, under a sale/leaseback arrangement. Source: Billboard
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