Discovery Communications Headquarters To Leave Silver Spring

SILVER SPRING, MD — Discovery Communications announced Tuesday that it will sell its headquarters in downtown Silver Spring and move to New York City in 2019.

"We have ... made the difficult decision to reduce our footprint in Maryland over time, with the ultimate closure and sale of our One Discovery Place headquarters building in Silver Spring, expected in 2019," Discovery President and Chief Executive David Zaslav said in a memo to the company.

Discovery helped revitalize downtown Silver Spring when their headquarters opened off Georgia Avenue at Colesville Road in 2003.

There are currently about 1,300 people working for Discovery in Maryland, Bethesda Magazine reports.

"Maryland is where the magic of Discovery first began. It also is where many of you, and your loved ones, call home," Zaslav said in the memo. "Where so many wonderful ideas, stories and innovations were first imagined."

County Executive Ike Leggett said the county and state made a "tremendous offer" to try to keep Discovery in Silver Spring.

“The county and state made every reasonable effort to ensure their long-term viability in the county,” Leggett told Bethesda Magazine. “It’s a tough, tough business decision that responds more to the economic model where television is going. We’ve been great partners for a long time. They’ve been a model corporate citizen.”

Discovery acquired Tennessee-based Scripps Networks Interactive in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $12 billion in August 2017.

See Related: Silver Spring-Based Discovery Buys Scripps Networks

The company plans to move its headquarters to New York City in the second half of 2019 and create a National Operations Headquarters at Scripps' Knoxville campus.

“This was one of the toughest calls we have made in our company’s history, and we do not take it lightly. I felt strongly about sharing the news with all of you as quickly as possible once the decision was finalized,” Zaslav said.

>> See the full memo here.

Image: The Fintastic Shark mural on the Discovery Communications building in 2016. (Photo by Charlie Archambault).