Major League Baseball and MLB Network will relocate their headquarters to the Time & Life Building in Manhattan, according to a report from Bloomberg.
Located at 1271 Avenue of Americas, the Time & Life Building was named for its former tenant and was once home to the New York Mets-owned SportsNet New York (SNY). As part of the move, MLB will consolidate two of its offices while also relocating the operations of MLB Network, which is currently based in Secaucus, NJ.
With renovations to the building taking place, the move could offer some different branding opportunities. More from Bloomberg:
With the agreement, the building will be getting a new television tenant: MLB Network, the cable channel operated by the league. The ground-floor studios that SNY uses for its broadcasts probably will be turned into a baseball retail store, one of the people said.
The lease will include the right to use the building’s street-level plaza for special events, as well as an eighth-floor outdoor terrace, according to the people. The league would take possession of the space in 2018 and be fully moved in during 2019.
With its longtime tenants leaving, the tower has been undergoing a $600 million renovation by the architectural firm Pei Cobb Freed & Partners. Elements of the project include replacing the exterior glass to allow more light inside the building and restoration of the lobby and elevators.
MLB Network has been located in Seacaucus since its launch in 2009, occupying a space that was once used by MSNBC. Before its launch it was anticipated that MLB Network would eventually move to a new studio in Harlem, but that plan was eventually scratched due to the fallout of the 2008 financial crisis.