TRL's Times Square Headquarters to be Abandoned

New York's music scene is about to lose a legendary studio. MTV, and parent company Viacom, have recently announced that they will not renew their lease on the famous Times Square studio at the end of the year.

The studio, located at 1515 Broadway, opened in 1997, and served as the venue for Total Request Live, MTV's dominant television series that featured music videos, guest performers, actors, and celebrities from 1998 to 2008. Original guests performers of TRL included Britney Spears, 'N Sync, and Backstreet Boys.

The studio, according to The New York Post, which will be sold by landlord SL Green, is listed in real estate databases as being worth $450 per square foot, and the street level MTV store, which is included in the retail package, is worth $1,000 per square foot, making the total yearly rent of the location $11.6 million a year.

The chances of Viacom changing its mind is slim. It already renewed its lease on the office space at 1515 Broadway, but declined to renew the studio and storefront in a joint package deal.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/08112009/business/broadway_blues_184013.htm