Home to NJ's Largest Newspaper Up for Sale

A week after it threatened to close if union concessions were not met, New Jersey's largest newspaper is selling its building.
 
The Star-Ledger put its Newark headquarters on the market a few days ago, publisher Richard Vezza told The Associated Press on Thursday. The structure was built in 1966 and has housed the paper through myriad changes to the city.
 
"It's really not suited for us right now, and it's awful expensive for us to maintain," Vezza said. "We can save a substantial amount of money by moving out and leasing office space."
 
Vezza said the paper must sell the building, which sits in downtown Newark, before it starts looking for a new location.
 
"Our considerations right now are that we've got to have adequate parking for our employees. We need an area that obviously is secure and we need appropriate office space," he said. "Where we will find that kind of space, that meets our requirements, we don't know until we start looking."
 
In late June, the Star-Ledger threatened to shut down operations by year's end if its production unions do not agree to contract concessions.
 
Vezza said Thursday the sale of the building "is not connected to that at all."
 
In a June 27 letter to the staff about the possible shutdown, Vezza said the company felt "pushed into a corner" and that the unions had until Sept. 27 to make compromises.
 
The unions said the announcement was a "pathetic attempt" to pound the union into a "state of submission."
 
The newspaper lost $19.8 million last year and is on track do the same in 2013. The Star-Ledger lost $12 million in 2011.
 
The president of the Council of Star-Ledger Unions and one of the Teamsters locals did not return a call for comment Thursday.