1 of 1- paterson1
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Hamilton Spectator Building Sold for $25.5 Million
The Hamilton Spectator Building which was put up for sale last summer has been sold for $25.5 million. The over 200 employees of the Spec will remain at the location for now. The lease back agreement will give the paper time to find a new location. The building which also included presses and mailroom has been the home of the paper since 1976. The presses and mailroom were moved out of the building in the fall.
Cutting edge when the building was completed in 1976, the structure also was the home of the Southam newspaper chain and included a full menu cafeteria, studios, three presses and large main floor auditorium, which was often donated to service clubs for large meetings.
Last edited by paterson1 (February 5, 2020 5:33 pm)
- potentiometer
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Re: Hamilton Spectator Building Sold for $25.5 Million
Damn, it's heartbreaking to watch the death of newspapers.
- Radiowiz
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Re: Hamilton Spectator Building Sold for $25.5 Million
potentiometer wrote:
Damn, it's heartbreaking to watch the death of newspapers.
I'm not sure it's a death of this newspaper. Just...maybe a downsizing of space into a smaller building, no doubt.
I wonder what will become of this building now...what will the new owner do? Build condos? lol
RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person.
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.
- Broodcaster
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Re: Hamilton Spectator Building Sold for $25.5 Million
Newspapers, like a lot of businesses, no longer need brick and mortar buildings. Just a lap top and you can work pretty much anywhere there is a WiFi connection. Some reporters and columnists seldom set foot in the buildings. They are working from home or out in the communities.
- paterson1
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Re: Hamilton Spectator Building Sold for $25.5 Million
The Spec will still need offices and space for their news, accounting, circulation, management and sales departments. The Waterloo Region Record moved into part of the old Eaton's department store in Market Square Downtown. Eaton's tended to have big stores, 3.5 floors in Kitchener. The Record took part of the ground floor and all the second floor when they moved in 15 years ago, about 55,000 square feet.
About half of the Spectator building was taken up by the 3 large presses and the mailroom. It is a great location for visibility overlooking the expressways through Hamilton. The site stood on 5 acres. It will be interesting to see if the building stays or taken down for something else. The Hammer has been on a building boom of late.over the past few years.
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Thread Starter- Broodcaster
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Re: Hamilton Spectator Building Sold for $25.5 Million
Agreed, but all of those departments are getting smaller with each passing year.
- paterson1
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Re: Hamilton Spectator Building Sold for $25.5 Million
Absolutely, The Record is using about half the space they had 15 years ago. A tech company occupies the area the paper no longer needs.
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Thread Starter- Kilgore
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Re: Hamilton Spectator Building Sold for $25.5 Million
departments are getting smaller with each passing year.
. . . as newspapers get skinnier but more expensive @ the same time, for some reason
- Broodcaster
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Re: Hamilton Spectator Building Sold for $25.5 Million
The owners appear more interested in getting us all to read them on our smart phones then having us read an
actual paper
- paterson1
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Re: Hamilton Spectator Building Sold for $25.5 Million
A lot of daily newspapers have more readers than they have ever had. The problem is more and more of readers are on line and on the app. The electronic side has been hard for newspapers to make money on. The on line traffic for a lot of big daily newspapers in Canada is huge, but the printed product has been sliding for a long time. The loss of advertising revenue from national and classified advertising over the past 12 years has been in the billions. The apps and on line advertising while growing is not even close to replacing this revenue.
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Thread Starter