25 Market St. in Elmwood Park — Courtesy: Crow Holdings Development
By Joshua Burd
Crow Holdings Development has secured a tenant for its new 207,000-square-foot industrial building in Elmwood Park, announcing a lease with MLB Network that will bring the broadcast and content platform to the high-profile project along Interstate 80.
According to a news release Thursday, the network will move its entire operation and office space to 25 Market St. in time for the 2028 Major League Baseball season. That will include its production studios and offices, plus MLB’s video tape library, in a facility that will have cutting-edge technology and design to enable the Emmy Award-winning platform to continue to thrive after its groundbreaking launch in 2009.
Relocating from its longtime home in Secaucus, MLB Network’s arrival will mark another chapter in Crow Holdings’ redevelopment of the former Marcal Paper plant that was decimated by fire in 2019.
“This new long-term home for MLB Network is an opportunity for us to transform our operations and deliver a futureproofed workplace that enables our team to produce exceptional content,” said Bill Morningstar, president of MLB Network. “Partnering with Crow Holdings on this state-of-the-art new facility will allow us to modernize our studios, enhance our production and support our evolving business. Moving to this new location demonstrates the importance of MLB Network to MLB and its media partners, the 30 clubs and fans across the world not only today but well into the future.”
CBRE’s Scott Gottlieb, Brendan Herlihy, Greg Barkan and Elliot Bok represented MLBN in the lease with Crow Holdings. JLL’s Rob Kossar, David Knee, Ignatius Armenia, Chris Hile and Ryan Milanaik represented the developer.
“We can’t think of a better match for this special property,” said Crow Holdings Development’s Clark Machemer, a senior managing director. “Our own company was founded on industrial development in 1948, so we know something about long-lasting brands that evolve to serve changing customer and community needs. For us, this is about more than matching a building and a tenant — it is two legacy organizations coming together with an eye toward the future.”
In announcing the deal, the organization noted that MLB Network offers the most comprehensive baseball coverage across multiplatform distribution and social channels, including live games, studio programs, documentaries, special features and countdown shows. It has earned critical acclaim with 42 national Emmy Awards across 15 categories, including MLB Tonight winning for Outstanding Daily Studio Show for the eighth time last year, while it provides more than 3,000 hours of live programming every year.
The network has also evolved into a production house, helping produce content for MLB Local Media, Friday Night Baseball on Apple TV+, Roku’s MLB Sunday Leadoff and MLB’s digital platforms and partners, the news release said. In total, the operation created more than 400,000 pieces of content for all of MLB’s platforms in 2024.
Its future home, which Machemer’s team delivered last year, is prominently visible from I-80 at Exit 61. The site housed the Marcal Paper warehouse for nine decades until the local landmark was destroyed by fire in early 2019, paving the way for Crow Holdings Development to purchase the property and work with local officials on a redevelopment plan.
The result was a distinctive industrial building befitting of the site’s history and neighborhood, the firm said. A brick facade and black window mullions inspired by the original warehouse pair with large, translucent light boxes to marry classic elements with modern design.
