UNIVERSAL CITY,CA-NBC Universal plans to develop a news center and TV studio herethat will aim for a LEED Silver certification for its design,construction and ongoing operations. The new facility at theUniversal City site will be modeled after the new NBC News WorldHeadquarters that is scheduled to open later this month at 30Rockefeller Plaza in New York City and will be part of a largerdevelopment at NBC Universal's 391-acre holdings here.

The news center is part of a larger overall West Coast strategicplan, part of which was reported on GlobeSt.com late last year,that would add hundreds of thousands of square feet of officespace, 2,900 housing units, 100,000 sf or more of new retail space,new production facilities and substantial other new development atthe Universal City site. Besides Universal Studios, the 391 acresare already home to the studio's Universal Studios theme park andthe Universal CityWalk mixed-use retail development.

As part of the overall long-range plan to centralize itsoperations in Universal City, NBC Universal says it expects to sella major portion of its 34-acre studio lot in the Burbank MediaDistrict. The sale of a portion of the Burbank studio lot, “willlikely involve the retention of portions of the Burbank property,and the leaseback of certain facilities, providing NBC Universalwith the option to keep some productions on the Burbank lot forseveral years,” the company says.