NBC Universal to Build New West Coast HQ

NBC announced this week that it plans to move from its historic Burbank Calif. home to a new “green” state-of-the-art HD facility in Los Angeles by 2011.

The Peacock network’s “West Coast News Headquarters and Content Center” will house the Los Angeles bureau of NBC News, as well as KNBC, KVEA and “Access Hollywood.” The network also plans to renovate and expand Stage One on the Universal Lot, which will house a live audience theater that will be the new home of “The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien” in 2009.

The new facility will be located directly across the street from Universal Studio. The network said its plans to centralize and upgrade the facilities are in line with the same strategy it’s implementing in New York City. NBC held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the upgraded Manhattan studio this week and will officially begin broadcasting from there later this month. That facility will now house both NBC News and MSNBC, the cable news network, which is moving from New Jersey.

NBC said the new West Coast facility will be all HD and will be designed to achieve the U.S. Green Building Council’s standard for environmental sustainability with the latest in renewable power, energy and water-efficient technologies.

“The West Coast News Headquarter is an incredibly exciting project on the horizon that will set a new standard for newsgathering and environmental design,” said NBC News President Steve Capus.

NBCU also plans to sell a large portion of the Burbank facility, with the option of retaining some productions on the Burbank lot for several years.