After much speculation, it appears the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News will move five blocks from their landmark building, which is nearly a century old.
Bill Shea of Crain's Detroit Business reports that the papers, along with the Detroit Media Partnership (DMP), are moving to the old Federal Reserve Building at Fort and Congress streets in downtown Detroit this summer. The search for new space took 13 months.
Shea, who cites a source familiar with the deal, says it's not clear if Dan Gilbert will buy the newspapers' current 415,000-square-foot building at 615 W. Lafayette Blvd., between Second and Third streets. His real estate division has owned the papers' new site since 2012.
The papers' one-block-square current building, designed in 1916 by noted architect Albert Kahn, has been The News' base for 97 years. In June 1998, the Free Press joined its editorial rival, which became a business partner in 1988 under a federally approved Joint Operating Agreement.
The cost-saving plan to move was announced Jan. 23, 2013. The current building, its garage and adjacent lots will be put up for sale, the partnership says.
The former Federal Reserve Building, which opened in 1927, was expanded and renovated from 1949-53.
Here's part of the Freep's coverage of last year's announcement about the hunt for new quarters:
The DMP, Free Press and News employ about 1,500 people, including 600 downtown, and that number would not change as part of the move, according to a news release from the DMP.
Newspaper companies across the country have been making similar moves as the industry has changed from a print-centered business to one focused increasingly on digital products. . . .
“Our new offices will reflect current and future needs – something designed for a newsroom that publishes on so many digital platforms,” said Free Press Editor and Publisher Paul Anger.
