Tribune moving its newsroom out of Prudential Plaza

The Chicago Tribune said Monday it will move its newsroom from its prime space east of Michigan Avenue and into its printing facility in River West just outside downtown.

The cost-saving move comes less than three years after the paper vacated its landmark tower at 435 N. Michigan Ave., which was sold to condo developers, for the Prudential Plaza buildings near Michigan and Randolph Street. The paper’s owner, Tribune Publishing, faces both the revenue challenges common to the media business and demands for better results from its controlling shareholder, Alden Global Capital, which is trying to buy the whole company.

The move will centralize Chicago Tribune operations at its Freedom Center printing plant, 777 W. Chicago Ave. As with many businesses, Tribune employees have mostly been working remotely during the pandemic.

The company said in a letter to employees the last day at Prudential Plaza will be Jan. 31. Employees were advised to fetch any belongings by Feb. 28.

The Tribune leased its Prudential Plaza space from property owner Sterling Bay. Tribune Publishing spokesman Max Reinsdorf did not say whether Tribune is attempting to sublease the space. A Sterling Bay spokeswoman declined to comment.

“Our decision to move our offices from Prudential to Freedom Center helps to reorganize our physical footprint as we continue to navigate the pandemic, position the company for long-term sustainability and ensure the health of our organization for the future,” Reinsdorf said in an email. “Employees will be informed of details as they are finalized.”

Once the move is finished, neither of Chicago’s two major dailies will have newsrooms in the immediate downtown. The Chicago Sun-Times, which had been at 350 N. Orleans St., relocated to 30 N. Racine Ave. on the Near West Side in 2017.

Remote work during the pandemic has made those newsrooms largely empty, however.

Under Alden, a New York hedge fund that owns more than 200 dailies and weeklies across the U.S. and is known for deep cost-cutting, the Chicago Tribune is reducing its newsroom staff with buyouts. Among those taking them are architecture critic Blair Kamin, investigative reporter Gary Marx and arts critic Howard Reich.

The Tribune’s lease at Prudential Plaza totals 137,000 square feet. It includes space on the lower floors and, for executive offices, the two top floors at One Prudential Plaza, 130 E. Randolph. The latter space includes what was an observatory when the building was the tallest in Chicago.

The company’s Freedom Center site has been a candidate for denser and more vertical development. Now owned by Nexstar Media Group, the site got city zoning approval in 2018 as the home of a 14-building complex with a mix of uses including more than 4,000 residences. But the plan awaits a developer willing to take on substantial risk during a pandemic.

City officials had suggested the property as a future headquarters for Amazon when the retailer conducted a national search.

For its printing operation, the newspaper has a lease at the site until 2023, but with two 10-year renewal options. The lease gives the paper considerable control of the property. A developer would have to buy out the leasehold.