The parent company of the Tampa Tribune newspaper sold its building in downtown Tampa to Miami-based Related Group, which plans to develop a residential complex on the riverfront site.
Tampa Media Group, which owns the Tribune, sold the building on the west bank of the Hillsborough River for $17.75 million, according to a deed filed with the Hillsborough County Clerk of the Circuit Court.
Related Group plans to build an eight-story, 400-unit residential complex on the site with a 10,000-square-foot restaurant.
The newspaper’s staff will continue to work at the building at 202 South Parker Street until demolition work starts. The paper’s publisher, Brian Burns, said the Tampa Tribune hired relocation specialists to find a future home for the main newsroom and support operations.
Burns also said the Tribune is deciding whether to purchase new printing presses or to outsource printing.
Newspapers nationwide have sold pricey downtown properties. The former downtown home of the Miami Herald on Biscayne Bay has been razed to make way for a resort development, and the headquarters of other Florida newspapers are listed for sale, including the Lakeland Ledger, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and the Tampa Bay Times, formerly the St. Petersburg Times. [Tampa Tribune] — Mike Seemuth