Truth matters. Community matters. Your support makes both possible. LAist is one of the few places where news remains independent and free from political and corporate influence. Stand up for truth and for LAist. Make your year-end tax-deductible gift now.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Warner Music Group To Ditch Burbank And Move To The Arts District
Burbank has to step up its game. Beginning in 2018, the music industry behemoth Warner Music Group will relocate from its current dull corporate digs in Burbank, and relocate to the apparently more interesting space in the Arts District, reports the Los Angeles Business Journal.
WMG will be moving into one of Los Angeles' old Ford car factory buildings. The building currently stands mid-way through a conversion to 'creative office space' at the intersection of of 7th Street and Santa Fe Avenue. While there was talk for a while that BuzzFeed might move its offices to the old building, those plans never materialized. (May we suggest Burbank?)
The Ford Factory was purchased for $37 million in 2014 by the San Francisco based Shorenstein Company, according to Urbanize.la. WMG expects to spend roughly $40 or $50 million renovating the facility for its own use, compounding a $10 million annual lease paid to Shorenstein. The Business Journal reports that WMG will enter a 13-year lease in August 2017.
Billboard first broke the news on Friday after they obtained an internal memo from WMG Chief Executive Stephen Cooper. In that memo, Cooper referred to the downtown Arts District as a neighborhood with "a burgeoning art, fashion, and food scene that's a magnet for businesses, entrepreneurs, and creatives."
The Arts District is also the site of a building 1/4 of a mile long, a sweet new bridge, and two proposed 58 story skyscrapers. We're sure the burgeoning art, fashion and food scene is just as it was in 2004, when only SCI-ARC was in the neighborhood.
BTW, if you're interested in the history of car manufacturing in Los Angeles (there used to be lots), here's an L.A. Times article from 1992 about the shuttering of the G.M. manufacturing plant in Van Nuys.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our connected community. We are free to tell the full truth, to hold power to account without fear or favor, and to follow facts wherever they lead. Our only loyalty is to our audiences and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen our community.
Right now, LAist has lost $1.7M in annual funding due to Congress clawing back money already approved. The support we receive before year-end will determine how fully our newsroom can continue informing, serving, and strengthening Southern California.
If this story helped you today, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Your tax-deductible donation keeps LAist independent and accessible to everyone.
Right now, LAist has lost $1.7M in annual funding due to Congress clawing back money already approved. The support we receive before year-end will determine how fully our newsroom can continue informing, serving, and strengthening Southern California.
If this story helped you today, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Your tax-deductible donation keeps LAist independent and accessible to everyone.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
