Post-Tribune staff report
The Post-Tribune's office building in Merrillville is for sale. So is the building that houses the Crown Point Star and Shopping News on that city's historic downtown square.
Post-Tribune Publisher Murdoch Davis said in a memo to staff Tuesday that "this is about real estate, not about the Post-Tribune or our Crown Point publications as newspapers or businesses."
He said the parent company, Sun-Times News Group, "made a strategic decision some time ago to move away from having capital tied up in real estate, so we can focus more on our core businesses."
The company sold the former Sun-Times building in downtown Chicago several years ago.
It's now the site of the new Trump tower, with the Sun-Times and company headquarters in rented space a few blocks away.
And buildings in Joliet, Aurora, Elgin, Naperville and elsewhere in Illinois have either been sold or are for sale, with the local operations moving to rented premises.
Davis said selling such buildings "is a fairly routine business decision but we are reporting it and advising you so that it is not misconstrued.
"I emphasize to you -- and ask you to emphasize to any clients, contacts or readers who may have questions -- that we are not leaving our communities or changing our fundamental business in doing this. We remain committed to maintaining a local office and staff within the communities we serve, including those in which we already rent offices, such as Valparaiso and Gary.
"Many companies of all types and sizes are moving in this direction, and many have operated solely from rented premises since their beginnings."
The publisher said the asking prices "are in themselves testimony to the sense of getting out of the real estate business to focus on media -- the Merrillville building just west of the Westfield Southlake mall is listed with Paine/Wetzel Associates at $3.8 million and the Crown Point building is listed at $700,000.
Davis said if a buyer wants the full premises, "we will move to rented offices elsewhere" within the market.
"It is also possible that the deal could be a sale and lease-back of all or part, under which we would remain where we are as tenants.
"Either way the P-T will remain in the heart of Northwest Indiana and the Crown Point operation will remain in that city."