QuoteThe Times-Union announced Wednesday that it will outsource its printing operations and begin a search for the organization's new headquarters after 50 years at One Riverside Avenue.
Full article: http://jacksonville.com/business/2017-12-13/times-union-outsource-printing-operations
Curious of the square footage they'll see Downtown.
I'm glad the new powers that be is making a firm commitment to moving their operations into the core since some other newspapers have been downsized to the 'burbs. I'm just curious if there would be demand to redevelop that site with all the new residential construction ongoing and proposed, especially if 200 Riverside is still a thing. The location is awesome but is it worth and developer having to clean up all the old machinery and ink waste or whatever.
Depends on the asking price. The office building is actually a decent mid-century modern structure. It could make for a cool retrofit into a boutique hotel or something. The plant is a big box. There's probably a million things you could do with it or simply replace it altogether.
Quote from: Steve on December 13, 2017, 09:59:02 PM
Curious of the square footage they'll see Downtown.
Any idea of some potential landing spots for them?
Quote from: thelakelander on December 14, 2017, 11:10:01 AM
The office building is actually a decent mid-century modern structure. It could make for a cool retrofit into a boutique hotel or something.
That would be the perfect location for a hotel. And if they were to put in a rooftop bar and lounge it would have one of the better unobstructed views of the city that would rival any of the existing or proposed rooftop bars in downtown or Riverside. I honestly think the building is ugly as hell but hopefully one man's trash...
The T-U property would actually make a great convention center site. It is much bigger than the old courthouse site so it could be greatly expanded compared to the Annex/courthouse site. It would still be reasonable walking distance (and a nice auto-free walk at that) to the Hyatt. It wwould still be close enough for snergy with the Landing. It would also be closer to the Transportation Center and future transit hub at the existing Convention Center. It would also be quicker and easier to access from I-95 and big enough to hold a new hotel as well.
The only downside is the city doesn't already own it but selling the courthosue site could at least partially offset that, and it is not close to the Elbow.
Quote from: vicupstate on December 15, 2017, 08:34:14 AM
The T-U property would actually make a great convention center site. It is much bigger than the old courthouse site so it could be greatly expanded compared to the Annex/courthouse site. It would still be reasonable walking distance (and a nice auto-free walk at that) to the Hyatt. It wwould still be close enough for snergy with the Landing. It would also be closer to the Transportation Center and future transit hub at the existing Convention Center. It would also be quicker and easier to access from I-95 and big enough to hold a new hotel as well.
The only downside is the city doesn't already own it but selling the courthosue site could at least partially offset that, and it is not close to the Elbow.
It's a full mile from the Hyatt (and any other hotel) and a half mile from the Landing, and the only walking access to the Downtown core is by the Riverwalk, which requires going up the ramp over the railroad bridge. It wouldn't be any better than the Prime Osborn, which at least has Skyway access. It's not even much closer to the stuff in Brooklyn than the Prime Osborn is.
Quote from: FlaBoy on December 14, 2017, 01:30:55 PM
Quote from: Steve on December 13, 2017, 09:59:02 PM
Curious of the square footage they'll see Downtown.
Any idea of some potential landing spots for them?
That's why the amount of Square Footage they need is an important question.
The current building is 55k SqFt, but do they need that today? Say they need 40k. That's available in most office buildings Downtown. I'd also think this is way short of what you'd need to anchor a new office building, so that's likely out. For comparison sake, the EverBank Center's floor plates are 32k SqFt, so they could go on 2 floors and have room to expand. The BB&T Building's floor plates are around 13k SqFt. The entire building at 300 W Adams (the old EverBank building) is about 35k SqFt so if they can squeeze in (and relocate the tenants) that might be an option. However, that building does need some work (at least it did last time I was in it).
Given that they want to be moved in a year, that's likely not enough time to take on a historic reno of a totally vacant building.
Quote from: Steve on December 15, 2017, 11:14:03 AM
Quote from: FlaBoy on December 14, 2017, 01:30:55 PM
Quote from: Steve on December 13, 2017, 09:59:02 PM
Curious of the square footage they'll see Downtown.
Any idea of some potential landing spots for them?
That's why the amount of Square Footage they need is an important question.
The current building is 55k SqFt, but do they need that today? Say they need 40k. That's available in most office buildings Downtown. I'd also think this is way short of what you'd need to anchor a new office building, so that's likely out. For comparison sake, the EverBank Center's floor plates are 32k SqFt, so they could go on 2 floors and have room to expand. The BB&T Building's floor plates are around 13k SqFt. The entire building at 300 W Adams (the old EverBank building) is about 35k SqFt so if they can squeeze in (and relocate the tenants) that might be an option. However, that building does need some work (at least it did last time I was in it).
Given that they want to be moved in a year, that's likely not enough time to take on a historic reno of a totally vacant building.
The taller office building is 55K, but very little of that is occupied by the T-U. The newsroom and advertising are in other production building. Newsroom as it's staff now would need 15-20,000 square feet max.
24 more positions cut at the Times-Union, 10 through layoffs.
https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/florida-times-union-announces-more-job-cuts
I'm hearing some rumors that the Times-Union's run as a daily print newspaper might be winding down.
Quote from: KenFSU on January 19, 2018, 10:29:49 AM
I'm hearing some rumors that the Times-Union's run as a daily print newspaper might be winding down.
What a shame. Alas, technology marches on, I guess.
10 laid off from the newsroom including the entire business staff and half the photo staff
Appears to be kind of bailing on daily news, just going after bigger stories:
Quote"Mary Kelli's philosophy is we're not going to do the small stuff," he said of his editor, Mary Kelli Palka.
After last week's cuts, which wiped out the business desk, the newsroom had a meeting and discussed that they'd only be covering critical business stories in the community. (Jacksonville has a business journal.) They're going after bigger stories, like Conarck's collaboration with ProPublica on racial profiling.
They don't have the staff anymore to cover everything. So they're choosing to be the watchdogs, he said.
https://www.poynter.org/news/can-newspapers-make-real-changes-under-constant-threat-layoffs
The final print run in Jacksonville was last night.
http://www.jacksonville.com/news/20180210/after-154-years-one-last-times-union-print-run-in-jacksonville-before-move
Quote from: river4340 on February 11, 2018, 03:34:03 PM
The final print run in Jacksonville was last night.
http://www.jacksonville.com/news/20180210/after-154-years-one-last-times-union-print-run-in-jacksonville-before-move
I wonder if the Times-Union offers tours.
Would be cool to see the old presses before the property is sold and they disappear.
So it really is the end of an era.
Godspeed to them.
I do wonder what we can do with the area now. It's pretty big. The location could be a good spot for a large riverfront development of some kind. Hotel, retail, residential.