Time Warner Inc. is considering moving its headquarters to Manhattan's far West Side as Related Cos. tries to kick-start its $15 billion Hudson Yards development planned there, people familiar with the matter said, according to an article today by Elliot Brown and Laurent A. E. Schuker at The Wall Street Journal.

The article caustioned that the talks are in preliminary stages and could fizzle and said that "Time Warner is looking at a move as part of its long-term strategy and isn't close to a decision, according to a person familiar with the company's planning."

The discussions, the article said, "come less than 10 years after Time Warner moved into its current headquarters overlooking Columbus Circle, which it teamed up with Related to build," adding that "Related, which has been scouring for Hudson Yards tenants, is pitching the move as a way that Time Warner could save money and consolidate operations, the people said."

"If Time Warner makes the jump," the article said, "it could finally open up a long-planned frontier in Manhattan development by the Javits Center. Related has been pushing a long-term plan to deliver a city-within-a-city to be built over the Long Island Rail Road storage yard. It's slated to include 12.9 million square feet of new office, retail and residential development. The deal would be a major boost for Related Chairman Stephen Ross, who agreed in 2008 to a $1 billion long-term lease with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to become the site's developer. Related has said it needs a large tenant to begin construction and has pledged to make space available to the first tenants at the cost of development."

New York-based Time Warner, the article continued, "has more than 8,500 employees working in the city in almost five million square feet of office space" including "the one-million-square-foot office condominium the company owns in Time Warner Center."

"Time Inc. and HBO, both divisions of Time Warner, lease more than two million square feet of space in Manhattan that expires in 2017 and 2018, according to research firm CoStar Group Inc. It is unclear if those divisions would be part of a move to Hudson Yards. But the timing of the lease expirations would allow for it. Related has said it could deliver the first phase of the development by 2017," the article said.

A deal would also represent a repeat partnership for the two firms. Thirteen years ago, Mr. Ross turned to Time Warner to anchor his planned development on Columbus Circle. The media firm's involvement was key to that long-delayed project. The MTA, which also owned that site, struggled for years to work with the private sector to develop it.

"The space Time Warner owns in Columbus Circle is valuable real-estate overlooking Central Park that the company got for a low cost. Given the jump in values since that deal, Time Warner likely could sell or lease the offices for a big profit should it decide to move locations," the article said.

Since spinning off Time Warner Cable and earlier AOL, Time Warner is now a content company, mainly comprised of television assets such as Turner Broadcasting, a film studio, and magazines.

"The rail yards area is an undeveloped location far from midtown Manhattan - in a neighborhood still marked by parking lots and warehouses. The largest development site remaining in Manhattan, the project requires construction of two platforms over the rail yards at a cost of more than $700 million each" The article said.

"I think we'll sign about three and a half million square feet of space this year," he said earlier this year. Related is also in negotiations with leather-goods maker Coach to take upwards of 600,000 square feet of space on the site, people familiar with the matter said.