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The Commercial Appeal office building at 495 Union.
Gannett Co. will sell The Commercial Appeal office building at 495 Union, according to the newspaper’s website.
The newspaper’s new president Mike Jung told staffers Monday that the building will likely go on the market in the next two or three weeks. Jung said the move was to better match the newspaper’s physical space to its staff, which is much smaller than it was when the paper moved into the building almost 40 years ago.
The multi-story building is a mix of industrial space, once used to print the newspaper, and office space. Gannet Co., the new owner of The Commercial Appeal, announced in February that the paper would no long be printed in Memphis. Instead, the paper is now printed in Jackson, Tenn., at the Gannett-owned Jackson Sun operation. That decision eliminated 19 full time positions in Memphis.
The newspaper staff has shrunk over the years. The newspaper story said The Commercial Appeal had about 1,300 employees when the company moved into 495 Union in 1975 and it now has fewer than 200. Waves of layoffs have hit The Commercial Appeal over the last few years. More than 20 were released by the newspaper in March.
The building at 495 Union sits on about 6.5 acres between Union and Beale. It was appraised at more than $6.5 million this year, according to the Shelby County Register of Deeds.
