June 03, 2015 3:14 pm • From Staff Reports
The company marketing the St. Louis Post-Dispatch building said Wednesday the previously announced asking price of $4.25 million did not include the newspaper’s parking lots.
Hilliker Corp. said the lots, which total 2.9 acres and can hold more than 400 vehicles, are listed for $1.35 million. That means the building and lots are for sale for $5.6 million.
Post-Dispatch ownership announced May 26 its intention to sell the newspaper’s building at 900 North Tucker Boulevard and relocate, possibly to another site downtown.
Hilliker, in collaboration with Twenty Lake Holdings as advisor to Lee Enterprises, is marketing the Post-Dispatch building. The Post-Dispatch has had six homes in its 137-year history.
Lee Enterprises, based in Davenport, Iowa, has owned the newspaper since 2005.
The asking price for the six-story, 235,000-square-foot building at 900 North Tucker is $4.25 million. The property includes an additional 126,000-square-feet of lower-level production space.
Meade Summers, president of Hilliker, said in a statement the building could remain as office space or be redone as residences.
“The building fills an entire block and would be appealing for a residential conversion since there are windows on all four sides plus potential for lower level inside parking spaces,” Summers said.
A strong selling feature is the ample parking available, he added.
Summers said the newspaper will search for a new location when the building is sold and would likely remain in the building for up to one year after it is purchased.
The building, completed in 1931, has been the newspaper’s headquarters since 1959, when the Post-Dispatch bought the property and printing equipment from the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, a now-defunct morning newspaper.
Post-Dispatch presses at the downtown headquarters went silent in 2008, freeing up considerable space. Printing, inserting and distribution operations now take place at the Pulitzer Publishing Center in Maryland Heights.
Of the newspaper’s previous headquarters, the only building still standing is the structure at 300 North Tucker, a Beaux-Arts Classical design erected during the tenure of Joseph Pulitzer II.
