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The Newark headquarters of the Star-Ledger, home to the state's largest newspaper for nearly 50 years, has been sold to a New York developer.
(Donna Gialanella / The Star-Ledger )
NEWARK — The Star-Ledger has sold its long-time home in Newark, where the state's largest daily newspaper was headquartered for nearly 50 years, according to publisher Richard Vezza.
The company would not disclose a sale price for the 177,000-square-foot building — many of the offices already vacant because of layoffs, attrition and the move of some operations to new offices in Woodbridge and Secaucus.
County property records show the property is assessed at $5 million.
The building and its parking deck are being purchased by Maddd Equities, a real estate investment, development and management firm located in Floral Park, N.Y., said Vezza.
“What their plans are, I don’t know,” he said.
The sale is expected to close in October, said Vezza.
Jorge Madruga, president of the firm which deals in commercial and residential development in the New York metropolitan area and parts of Florida, did not return numerous calls or emails to his office.
The Star-Ledger, which Vezza said will continue to be published seven days a week, will retain a presence in Newark in leased office space located within the downtown Gateway Center complex — where the publisher, the newspaper’s editorial board, its columnists, its magazine staff and a handful of other jobs will be based.
Advance Publications, the owner of the newspaper, launched a new media company this year — NJ Advance Media — that will be providing content, advertising and marketing services for its on-line presence at NJ.com, and many of its New Jersey newspapers out of the offices in Woodbridge. The sales and marketing staffs moved to Woodbridge in June.
The newspaper has been at its current home at 1 Star-Ledger Plaza, located at the corner of Court and Washington streets, since 1966. But the big presses on the ground floor of the gray brick building were moved out long ago, and the newspaper itself has not been printed in Newark for years.
The newspaper earlier this year cut a third of its non-unionized employees. Most of the editorial staff retained by the new company will be moving to Woodbridge in September, with the editorial production staff relocating to new offices in Edison.