Atlanta Radio: iHM Reportedly Looking To Relocate

iHeartmedia Inc. is in talks to lease 25K SF at The Works on Chattahoochee Avenue in Atlanta, moving from its current home at 1819 Peachtree Road in Buckhead, a mid-rise office building near the border to Midtown, a source familiar with the transaction told Bisnow. 

Bisnow citing a source reports iHeartmedia will operate its Atlanta radio stations from The Works as well, stations that also include 105.3 The Beat, Z105.7, WBIN 640 Atlanta News & Talk and The Lake Atlanta.

Dottie Simzyk, who describes herself as a permit expediter on LinkedIn, filed a permit this week with the city of Atlanta on behalf of iHeartmedia for office renovations at 1255 Makers Way, a 50K SF former warehouse that is part of Selig's 80-acre adaptive reuse project. Rand Construction Co. co-office lead Bryan Stolz was listed on the permit as the licensed professional. He didn't respond to emails seeking comment. When reached by phone, Simzyk declined to comment.

San Antonio-based iHeartmedia reported a net loss of $242M in the first three months of the year, compared to a more than $1.6B loss from the first quarter of 2020.

In February, the company announced that it was creating two platforms for its business, its multiplatform group, which encompasses 75% of iHeartmedia's revenue and where it operates more than 860 radio stations in 160 markets as well as Premier Networks and the Black Information Network. The second segment is its digital audio group that includes the company's digital sites, networks and services as well as its podcast publishing arm. In March, the company entered into a three-year deal with Bloomberg to co-produce and distribute podcasts, including Bloomberg's Masters in Business, The Pay Check and Foundering, Deadline reported.

“Audio is hot. Everything in audio is growing. In fact, over the past two years streaming audio users are up 21%. Smart speaker ownership is up 50%, voice assistant users are up 23%, earbud, headphone unit sales are up 90%, and podcasts weekly listeners are up 42%,” iHeartradio Chairman and CEO Bob Pittman said on an earnings call last month. “With that as a backdrop, I want to remind you that we are No. 1 in consumer reach across all key profitable audio platforms. We create more audio content than anyone else. And we have the largest sales force in the audio sector. Therefore we expect to continue to benefit from these trends.”

The company has been striking new office leases in other markets in recent years, including relocating to a new 9,400 SF office in Pittsburgh for its rock station WDVE. In March, the company announced that it was moving its Ohio offices to Downtown Cleveland to a brand-new facility. And in late 2019, the company named Nashville as its second headquarters location for its digital division, expanding the New York-based digital team to the Southern music city.