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Sony Music UK to Join Universal, Facebook and Google At London’s King’s Cross District: Report

The U.K. arm of Sony Music is reported to be leaving its West London base and joining Universal Music, Facebook and Google in the capital city's fast-growing music, tech and media hub at King's…

The U.K. arm of Sony Music is reported to be leaving its West London base and joining Universal Music, Facebook and Google in the capital city’s fast-growing music, tech and media hub at King’s Cross. 

According to Property Week, the music label is closing in on a deal to take up six floors and 124,000 sq. ft of office space at 4 Handyside Street, located at the heart of the North London district. Sony Music declined to comment on the reported move, which is not expected to take place until 2021. 

If correct, Sony will once again be neighbors with Universal Music, which moved from its long-time home in West London to King’s Cross last year. Google’s UK offices are also located in the once run-down, now thriving Kings Cross district, with the Silicon Valley tech giant planning to build a new 11-storey, 1 million sq. ft ‘Landscaper’ campus close to its current base. When completed, it will be Google’s first wholly owned and designed building outside the U.S.

Last year, it was announced that Facebook had signed a deal to acquire 611,000 sq. ft of space across three buildings at King’s Cross. The new Facebook offices, which include landscaped roof gardens and terraces, are due to open in 2021.

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Already present in King’s Cross is U.K. performing rights society PRS for Music, Vevo, British newspaper The Guardian, media multinational Havas, Louis Vuitton and the University of the Arts London (home to Central Saint Martins, whose alumni include Stella McCartney, PJ Harvey and Pulp singer Jarvis Cocker). 
Meanwhile, just a stone’s throw away is Tileyard Studios, a large complex containing over 80 recording studios and more than 100 offices spaces that includes Mark Ronson, Chase & Status, 100 Management, publisher Notting Hill Music and Spitfire Audio among its clients.

If or when Sony joins them in King’s Cross — located near Camden, St. Pancras International railway station and Regent’s Park — it will leave only Warner Music in Kensington, the wealthy West London district that has long been home to the British music industry.