Real estate rumours

[Warren Toda]

Who doesn't love good rumours:

a) Toronto Sun building about to be sold? Will the paper move to the TV studios across the street or just rent office space somewhere else (after downsizing a bit more)?

b) Toronto Star building about to be sold? Will the paper move or just lease-back office space?

Is it at the point where the building is worth more than the newspaper?

[Steve Russell]

b) Toronto Star building about to be sold? Will the paper move or just lease-back office space?

I think that the rumor has more impact if it is the Sun.
The Star hasn't owned the building in years.
The 24 story building whose tenants include the LCBO and Canada Post was sold years ago to Redcliffe.
However the Star does own the press building at 407 and 400.
While the Sun is the sole tenant of its building.

[Bill Sandford]

Regarding sale of the Sun building, this is from Today's Toronto Star.

http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/428445

It's a sad thing to read for those of us who put many years working for The Sun when it was a vibrant newspaper, and now seems a shadow of it's former self.

Doug Creighton is probably doing flip flops in his grave at this news!

Bill Sandford

[Warren Toda]

One rumour down (including the start of more downsizing), another to go. Is it too soon to mention the rumour about the historic Globe building, (does the escalator still run?), being actively sought by developers?

Thing is, except for the National Post to some degree, all newspapers in Toronto, (and probably elsewhere too), are seriously under-using their buildings, are located in prime locations that are being rapidly re-developed (translation: more highrise condos), and claim to need money.

Today, a newspaper needs just a medium-sized office with lots of computers, exactly like any other business office - nothing special.

The special building requirements for photo studios, darkroom, art department, pre-press, composing, monster-sized presses, and a gigantic newsroom for dozens of people to yell to each other across the room over the constant buzz of police scanners while up-n-coming celebrities wait in the reception area for an interview, are long gone.

Newspaper buildings no longer shake because they don't have presses to run. No smell of fresh ink because the first, still-wet, papers are no longer rushed back into the newsroom for proofing. No more "pool" pizzas or other take-out meals for the late-night staff because everyone just wants to get out of the office. Just like any other business - nothing special.

--

There's probably a reality-TV series here: take old-timers from various jobs and put them back into today's changed (business) world. See if they can still manage to do what they used to do.

--

There's also a neat marketing opportunity for any thinking newspaper, (hopefully that's not an oxymoron), to utilize empty space and (re)gain public interest in their paper product, unless the building is located at the outskirts of town. But the catch is, the paper has to learn from the world wide web, (which means it'll never happen). 

[Warren Toda]

Is it too soon to mention the rumour about the historic Globe building, (does the escalator still run?), being actively sought by developers?

The Globe and Mail announced yesterday that its building has been sold and the paper will be moving to a yet-to-be-built new office next door to its current location.

Next up, semi-relocation of the Toronto Star. 

[Warren Toda]

Postmedia announced that it's selling its Toronto office building. The building houses Postmedia head office and the National Post, both of which will be relocated in 18-24 months.

That leaves just the Toronto Star. I'm surprised that it's taking so long, (is the Star holding out for more money?). The condo developers are raring to go. 

[Warren Toda]

So, the Toronto Star property has been sold and the condo developers are now very happy. Perhaps five condo towers will be added to the site. If they're smart, they'll also add a shopping mall.

The Star said it won't be moving.  Yeah well, let's see how long that lasts.

How soon before the Star and the soon-to-be-homeless Globe and Mail decide to share offices?

If Toronto papers were smart ... ( I'll wait here until the laughter stops) ... they'd create a "press building" to house all the newspaper offices. This way, it'll be easier to later merge papers which *will* happen. Either TorStar and The Globe or TorStar and Post Media, or maybe both.

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All of these opportunities came and went but what the Toronto Star should've done:

1) Move across the street into the Corus Entertainment building which will become a high-profile location as the city's waterfront development continues.

2) Move across the street into the new George Brown College campus.

3) Move into the Ryerson University expansion (somewhat similar to what CITY-TV did, although the TV station relocated next door to Ryerson).

In the latter two options, the Star would've converted into a "teaching" newspaper. The teaching would've been a two-way thing: the paper teaches the journalism students about, uh, journalism and the students teach the paper about the 21st century.

[Eric Wynne]

More freaking condos? Geez.

The waterfront area already looks like Lego land.

[Steve Russell]

If Toronto papers were smart ... ( I'll wait here until the laughter stops) ... they'd create a "press building" to house all the newspaper offices. This way, it'll be easier to later merge papers which *will* happen. Either TorStar and The Globe or TorStar and Post Media, or maybe both.

Funny, I have a friend who is an architect, he told me six months ago that he had seen drawings for the blocks in question without the Star building!
Around the same time I had heard that the Star was going to be a tennant in the Globe's new building.
But the Globe building plans are no longer.

[Warren Toda]

... How soon before the Star and the soon-to-be-homeless Globe and Mail decide to share offices?

If Toronto papers were smart ... ( I'll wait here until the laughter stops) ... they'd create a "press building" to house all the newspaper offices. ...

Well! Who would've guessed that The Globe and Mail and Sun Media would merge?

Okay, not quite. But The Globe announced it's relocating in 2016 to the Toronto Sun building, or at least what used to be the Sun building. A new addition (one of three?) is being added to the former Sun building. The Globe will occupy the top floors and will look down upon the Sun. 

[Ken Gigliotti]

It would go along way for a company  to announce , or for workers to inquiry ,if money from real estate  sales will be going to underfunded employee pensions . No assets ,could be a signal  there is a plan for a future ,quick , joyless exit from the printed business . I am an optimist , there are a few bullets in the chamber , if pension underfunding  it can easily be shored up with this type of funding . In Manitoba , MTS recently sold a subsidiary just to top up an underfunded pension . The underfunded pensions are a big barrier for  resale to other big media companies . Resale has to be a logical progression .

[Jack Simpson]

Donald Trump has new secret silent partner in Toronto condo schemes ...

The Donald won't divulge the name but the initials W T cropped
up in conversations 

Jack

[Keith Morison]

Not Toronto, but old news in these neck of the woods has the Calgary Herald building up for sale and the press work being outsourced to TransContinental.

[Warren Toda]

Not Toronto, but old news in these neck of the woods has the Calgary Herald building up for sale and the press work being outsourced to TransContinental.

The Herald last week announced that its paper is shrinking and the printing will be outsourced to Transcontinental. Its building is for sale.

It also appears that the Vancouver Province and Vancouver Sun will outsource their printing in early 2015.

[Warren Toda]

Who said newspapers are slow to act?

After months of Toronto photographers whispering rumours to each other   , Postmedia announced today that it is buying Sun Media (English newspapers only and doesn't include Sun TV). The country's two largest newspaper chains will merge to produce even more media ownership concentration, and if approved by regulators, (here comes the punch line), they say the two chains will continue to operate side by side with no layoffs and no closures.

Postmedia will probably be better than Quebecor for Sun Media (get your resumés in!). But it's no secret that Postmedia is in debt ($500M?) and losing money, and its goal, as has been often said by its CEO, is to be very "lean". Postmedia CEO said today that he is not ruling out layoffs. I suspect closures will start in about one year. Layoffs will continue as always.

This is not an expansion merger, (the more the merrier), but rather a preservation merger, (safety in numbers, too big to fail).

Postmedia will pay only $316M for Sun Media. Quebecor bought Sun Media, almost exactly 16 years ago, for just under $1B.

One wonders if, in 2016, the National Post, to save money, will move 2km directly south to the new and much nicer Globe and Mail Centre, (aka. the old Sun Media building or, to be more accurate, the old Toronto Sun parking lot), which apparently still has lots of empty office space. Maybe Sun Media will also then move a few feet sideways into the same G+M Centre.

One also wonders when TorStar and The Globe and Mail will merge as a defensive move (and Torstar would move into the Globe+Mail Centre).