Paramount Global considering sale of CBS Broadcast Center

CBS is reportedly considering a significant relocation from its West 57th Street facility, known as the CBS Broadcast Center, marking a potential end to its decades-long presence in Manhattan’s far West Side.

The network, now part of Paramount Global following the merger of CBS Corporation and Viacom in 2019, is expected to issue a request for proposals (RFP) that will encompass two primary elements: the sale of its 600,000-square-foot broadcast center and the procurement of a new Manhattan-based site for its operations.

Located between Tenth and Eleventh avenues, the CBS Broadcast Center has been a hub for the network since the 1950s.

Before its acquisition by CBS in 1952, the main building housed a dairy depot for Sheffield Farms which opened in June 1938. 

According to New York Post reporting, the ideal outcome for CBS would involve finding a single landlord to purchase the 57th Street property and provide an alternative location to meet the network’s production needs. 

The current CBS Broadcast Center is a massive amount of space and no longer aligns with the network’s current production needs, especially given the movement of shows to other facilities. “CBS Evening News” now broadcasts from a studio in Washington, D.C., while the network’s flagship morning program comes from Times Square. The Broadcast Center also includes many production support spaces, such as a scenic fabrication shop and vast storage areas, that have been made redundant as productions have been relocated and roles outsourced.

This would not be the first time the network has considered selling its real estate assets. Prior to the Viacom merger — and even following — CBS has explored sales to raise capital, with the 2019 effort resulting in the sale of its Black Rock office on 52nd Street instead of the broadcast center.

Paramount Global also sold its 38-acre CBS Studio Center property in Studio City, California, in 2021.

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Despite the network’s potential reduction in its physical footprint due to the relocation of several entertainment shows, the CBS Broadcast Center continues to serve as a hub for many of its operations. CBS News maintains its newsroom there and it is the production site for the network’s streaming news service and home to CBS Sports. Syndicated shows like “The Drew Barrymore Show” and HBO’s “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” also film at the facility.

Disney ABC is also planning to move its New York City operations in the coming years, relocating to the West Village. 

While a new location for CBS in NYC is unclear, a proposal has been presented to convert Pier 94 into a 230,000 square foot television production facility under a joint agreement between the city, Vornado, Hudson Pacific Properties and Blackstone.