NBC 5 Chicago and Telemundo Chicago Unveil Fully Remodeled, State‑of‑the‑Art Newsroom and Studios at NBC Tower

NBC 5 Chicago (WMAQ‑TV) and Telemundo Chicago (WSNS‑TV) have completed a major, multi‑year remodel of their entire shared workplace at NBC Tower marking one of the most significant local media investments in Chicago in decades. The project brings all news, production, technical, and front‑office operations together onto a unified, state‑of‑the‑art full-floor facility floor designed for modern, bilingual, multiplatform journalism that will support audiences for years to come.

The Chicago transformation follows major NBCUniversal Local workplace advancements in New York (NBC 4 New York and Telemundo 47) in 2025 and Washington, D.C. (NBC4 and Telemundo 44 Washington) in 2024.

A Remodel Built to Enhance the Viewer Experience

The newly redesigned environment was built with viewers in mind, offering faster and more accurate breaking‑news coverage through integrated workflows and a “shoot‑anywhere” facility serving every platform. It delivers upgraded broadcast quality powered by new studios, modern lighting systems, advanced cameras, and enhanced visual‑storytelling tools. The space also strengthens bilingual collaboration between NBC 5 and Telemundo Chicago journalists through a shared, fully unified workspace, while improving resiliency and reliability with a modernized technical core and production infrastructure. All of this supports a story‑centric workflow designed to provide audiences with essential information when they need it.

Project Scope and Impact

Spanning more than 70,000 sq. ft. of newly remodeled space, the project represents what is described as the City of Chicago’s finest world‑class media facility ever created. The $70M+ investment, launched in 2021, delivers a comprehensive reimagining of the local newsroom—from technology to layout to editorial flow.

The upgraded facility includes five brand‑new studios and more than 20 camera‑ready locations, enabling unprecedented 24/7 content creation and expanding the ways NBC 5 and Telemundo Chicago can serve their audiences.

The remodel also introduces the Unified Production Platform (UPP), a universal suite of newsroom applications and systems designed to support deeper integration across NBCU Local markets and with national news operations. For the first time ever, newsroom and front‑office teams are now working together on the same floor, further simplifying collaboration and speeding decision‑making.

In addition, the national NBC News Chicago Bureau is moving into the new workplace, creating enhanced shared newsgathering opportunities alongside the NBC 5 and Telemundo Chicago news teams.