East Bay papers downsize

[wicked]

Pajaronian may be the greatest newspaper name ever.

Both the Boston papers have gone through this in the past 10 years or so. The Herald owner held onto part of the new development on the old property, and fortunately that part of town is booming with $500,000 shoebox condos.

 

[SFIND]

I'm in a very similar situation, just not in California. Our building sits on some damn prime-valuable property that other businesses covet greatly. The property is by far the most valuable thing my paper has at this point. Wonder how long before it's sold and we move into a strip mall between a Subway and a Sports Clips.

I worry about this too. I don't know how coveted our real estate is -- we're close to downtown but 2-3 blocks away from what I'd say is core downtown. One thing is for sure, we've got about four times the space we need. I fear ending up like another nearby paper in our chain, which sits in a strip mall next to a tax preparation place and a shoe store.

 

[Fredrick]

It is going to happen everywhere.

Of course it is. Like I said before this is the new M.O. of whomever is in charge of a newspaper, the publisher or whomever. It's his/her only way of making the CEO of the chain any money. Sell the property and move the newspaper operations somewhere, anywhere. There's really little concern regarding where the newspaper people will move. That's what is really funny about all this. It's sell the historic newspaper building in prime location usually for a shirtton of money and after you sell find a little strip mall somewhere and if it's not big enough just tell the reporters to work at Starbucks and come check in once in a while.

 

[Doc Holliday]

I worry about this too. I don't know how coveted our real estate is -- we're close to downtown but 2-3 blocks away from what I'd say is core downtown. One thing is for sure, we've got about four times the space we need. I fear ending up like another nearby paper in our chain, which sits in a strip mall next to a tax preparation place and a shoe store.

My paper is right in the middle of a downtown area, historic and hopping with businesses plus the bar/booze/hookup scene is all around us. New condos sprouting up nearby too. We used to run a full ship, didn't have enough desks for employees. Day Reporters and day editors had to share desks with night reporters and night editors. Now the empty desks out number the occupied desks three to one throughout the whole building.

It's only a matter of time before our trusty building is sold off and we're shipped to suburbia.

 

[MTM]

We are in a bureau in a strip mall. There were heavy rumblings they were going to shut us down and have the few remaining reporters and two-person sales staff work from home. Another idea was to combine two bureaus, about 30 miles apart, into one halfway in between.

Then someone figured out we need actual addresses in both places to sell legal ads so we're here, for now. I'm waiting for them to turn our double storefront into one.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

We are in a bureau in a strip mall. There were heavy rumblings they were going to shut us down and have the few remaining reporters and two-person sales staff work from home. Another idea was to combine two bureaus, about 30 miles apart, into one halfway in between.

Then someone figured out we need actual addresses in both places to sell legal ads so we're here, for now. I'm waiting for them to turn our double storefront into one.

The big surprise is that they figured out the legal ad thing before they shut everything down. Some companies would have shut down the office, then shirt themselves when they realized they forked up,

 

[LanceyHoward]

Are the BANG papers or the Chronicle dominant in the Bay area? I always thought that historically the Mercury-News and the Chronicle were roughly the in quality. I also thought the Chronicle had less suburban penetration than other Metro papers such as the Washington Post or the Boston Globe. But I am not sure.

 

[LongTimeListener]

Are the BANG papers or the Chronicle dominant in the Bay area?

No.