iHeartRadio is coming to Burbank

This post has been corrected. Please see note for details.

Clear Channel’s Internet-radio division, iHeartRadio, has signed on for 20,000 square feet in The Burbank Studios on a 10-year lease reportedly worth between $5 million and $7 million, according to the property’s owner.

The space is in the same building on Alameda Avenue that currently houses “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and NBCUniversal’s news operations, both of which are expected to move out within the next 14 months.

iHeartRadio, which is based in New York City, has not announced what it plans to use the space for.

An Internet-radio platform, iHeartRadio functions as a radio network that combines content from more than 800 Clear Channel stations across the country and broadcasts it online.

Clear Channel spokeswoman Angel Aristone said the company wasn’t releasing information about the lease.

Jeff Worthe -- founder of Worthe Real Estate Group, which owns The Burbank Studios -- said he thought the company’s decision made sense because it already leases space in The Pinnacle, an office building located basically across the street.

Worthe’s company also owns The Pinnacle.

“You know, there’s a lot of logic to having a musical act on air, on the [Clear Channel] stations, then obviously they can walk across the street and play at the iHeartRadio studio,” he said. “[Clear Channel has] been a tenant of ours for many years, so we’re excited to have another division of theirs move in.”

A 982,000-square-foot facility located at 3000 W. Alameda Ave., The Burbank Studios contains office space, sound stages and production facilities.

Worthe said there is currently a small amount of space available in The Burbank Studios, but his company is negotiating with several production companies about leasing it.

NBCUniversal productions “The Tonight Show” and “Access Hollywood” are currently recorded in The Burbank Studios, as well as “Days of Our Lives,” which is produced by Sony.

NBCUniversal plans to move its news operations from The Burbank Studios to its state-of-the-art facilities on the Universal lot by the end of the year, and “The Tonight Show” is slated to move to New York City in spring 2014.

In 2007, NBCUniversal sold the Burbank lot to Catalina/Worthe Real Estate Group and has been leasing space there ever since. Its lease runs until 2015.

Worthe said he’s not worried that the impending departures of NBCUniveral’s news operations and “The Tonight Show” will lead to an abundance of vacant space because it’s still leased.

“[NBCUniversal] thought they’d be moved off the property three years ago.... [That] obviously shows the need for the space,” he said. “A lease is a lease, so it doesn’t matter.”

Mary Hamzoian, economic development coordinator for Burbank, said the iHeartRadio’s arrival was indicative of what draws entertainment companies and major film studios to the city.

“Clear Channel was in Burbank before, Warner Brothers [Records] is here … we have all different levels of media presence,” she said. “I think that’s why Burbank is so healthy in the media industry overall. We don’t just focus on one sector within entertainment.”

[For the Record, 9 p.m.: An earlier version of this post incorrectly implied that iHeartRadio was moving to Burbank. It will remain headquartered in New York City.]

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