Dallas news broadcaster WFAA-TV (Channel 8) will move from its high-profile Victory Park location to a new studio and news room in its downtown Young Street building in January.
Tegna’s ABC subsidiary announced it is redesigning existing space on the second floor of its office at 606 Young St., where it will be flanked by the Omni Dallas Hotel and the former headquarters of The Dallas Morning News. The renovation, which began in June, has an estimated cost of $ 850,000, according to a filing from the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.
The WFAA has called its Streetside studio in the Plaza Towers building in Victory Park home for 14 years.
“WFAA is growing and evolving to meet the needs of our community, customers and partners,” said Vice President and Station Manager Carolyn Mungo. “We’re excited about these changes and how they will enable us to better serve our audiences, but we also thank Victory Park for welcoming us since 2007.”
The station’s move will likely save money over time as office rents continue to rise in Dallas Uptown, which is where Victory Park is located.
For the three months to September, monthly office rent per square foot averaged $ 46.20 in Uptown compared to $ 27.88 in downtown, according to commercial real estate company CBRE Group Inc.
WFAA is listed as the owner of its Young Street office.
Although the exact price of the WFAA’s 2007 migration to Victory Park is unknown, former WFAA President and General Manager Mike Devlin said at the time that the combination of moving to the new location and the introduction of high definition news broadcasts totaled between 5 and Costed $ 10 million.
News outlets across the country have moved away from the streetside studio trend in recent years to make room for high-tech setups and equipment, industry publication NewscastStudio reported.
WFAA’s Victory Park studio is adjacent to the American Airlines Center, which gives it world-class attention at Stars and Mavs game nights to attract passers-by for broadcast backgrounds. The studio isn’t focusing on windows, however, especially after a 2018 update that added new LED displays that limited outside views.
The station is one of 12 owned by Tegna media company in Texas. The WFAA’s broadcasting market consists of almost 3 million households, as Tegna’s latest annual reports show.
[ad_1]
https://www.dallasnews.com/business/real-estate/2021/10/22/wfaa-to-move-its-tv-studio-out-of-prime-victory-park-location-in-january/
