As Gannett sells more real estate, a reader told me in an e-mail: "I'm not sure how much of a secret it is at this point, but there are strong and well-circulated rumors the Poughkeepsie Journal is selling its building at 85 Civic Center Plaza. The beautiful and historic stone building will most likely be ditched in favor of cramming staff into a rental space somewhere in the city. . . . I don't think it's on the market yet. In fact, probably not until late spring/early summer. This is not the paper's doing. Truthfully, it's still a strong operation that makes money. But Gannett is pressing in its apparent mission to dissolve the place."
The Colonial Revival-style building features a beautiful wrought-iron archway leading to the main outer entrance, reading, "Here shall the people's rights the press maintain." A marble staircase to the second floor is adorned with images of Ben Franklin and other pioneering journalists painted on the walls.The nation's third-oldest paper covered Eleanor and President Franklin Roosevelt, whose nearby Hyde Park estate served as a White House annex in 1933-45, the paper's Corporate profile page says. The building's fieldstone was influenced by FDR, "who envisioned a certain architectural style for downtown Poughkeepsie."
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[Image: today's front page, Newseum]
wow! what an awesome building! I had no idea Gannett had anything so classy!
ReplyDeleteThat is a great building, GCI must be really desperate to try to sell it in this market
ReplyDeletethe roof leaks. it took them years to get it fixed correctly
ReplyDeleteWhat a sad disgrace. I grieve for my former colleagues there. It's bad enough they recently stopped printing the paper there ... at this rate, why not just fold Poughkeepsie altogether and make it Westchester North? That Journal building kicks ass. Its location in the center of town, part of a triad with city hall and the post office, implies importance. Sometimes when everything else seemed to suck, the building alone, with its beautiful stairwell and history of newspapering mural, could give me a lift.
ReplyDeleteIs there any incentive anymore for anyone in the mid-Hudson Valley to pick up the Journal? I know times are the worst ever, Gannett, but what are you doing to build up potential reader interest in the paper, as opposed to tearing it down piece by piece? When I was there, we never did enough to expand our market further into Ulster County (Middletown had bigger circulation in New Paltz), and I'll bet that never changed.
Why don't you find some spine, Gannett, and tell Wall Street to go F itself, rather that destroy your properties in some desperate attempt to placate asshole stock analysts? I'm sure Poughkeepsie is still turning a profit, just not the 40-percent-plus gravy train you were spoiled by for years.
The employees at The Poughkeepsie Journal and the community should hope they are not merged with Westchester, The Journal News makes the NJ Group seem like a paradise.
ReplyDeleteSELLING OUT???
ReplyDeleteLook at the Journal News (Westchester), it's a total waste with cronies from USAT running the rag.
Poughkeepsie Journal is still a better paper than the Journal News, even though they're about 1/10 the newsroom staff. (Content at the Poughkeepsie Journal is suffering too however with early deadlines and no staff)
The Journal News is a hideous looking paper, no offense. But I'm sure it's the second rate USAT flunkies who are responsible for the ugly design.
The city editor should needs to find a vision for the paper because its seems they're just wingin it day to day.
So, are you selling and selling out???
And 4:10 PM all you said is true.
Right on 4:10 PM.
ReplyDeleteAlso:
The Journal News is less of a paper with 10 times the staff of the Pok Journal. The Poughkeepsie paper is still a better paper despite the numbers, although the quality of the journalism at Poughkeepsie Journal has gone down over the last 5 years. The early Morey coverage was a complete disaster
Some of the eastern Wisconsin buildings might be considered historic, if only because of their age. Oshkosh and Green Bay, certainly. Sheboygan and Appleton have been in their buildings for some time also.
ReplyDeleteReno has a beautiful building. I'd say it's historic, beautiful, classy and is a testament to past, current and future.
ReplyDeleteWhat better branding opportunities does the company have than that beautiful building. It clearly looks like an important piece of history.
ReplyDeleteIf we could take down the false ceilings, bring the east Wisconsin buildings back to their original style, we would have some lovely buildings.
ReplyDeleteSheboygan's publisher has a real fireplace in his office. Oshkosh looks like a 1930's bank inside, life-size paintings of the founders, wrought iron and beautiful wood. Appleton's got marble floors under the carpet and decorative moulding behind the ceiling tiles. Green Bay, right next to city hall, also has the presence of three stories of gray stone, and it just screams 'you can trust us, we'll be here forever.'
Mantiwoc and Fondy, although nice buildings, could both be pushed into their respective rivers without too many tears. Seventies chic.
At one time we had a property called the 'crack house' as one of our bureau offices. A bit on the other end of the scale.
The Burlington Free Press building is about as funky as it gets.
ReplyDeleteDes Moines' building is historic. But it's kind of ugly.
ReplyDeleteAlso a former Pojo staffer, who agrees on what an awful move selling that building would be - not just for the paper, or the staff, but the community as well. The City of Poughkeepsie has enough problems without destablizing that corner by removing the Journal - where, as someone above mentioned, the huge historic Post Office, and City Hall also sit.
ReplyDeleteGannett is so greedy. It kills me to see them destroying that paper, and that they might be moving in a way that destroys the City as well.
And not for nothing, but not a single soul is happy with the changes that have been made at the paper, inside or outside the building.
It's official: Corporate is or has put the Poughkeepsie Journal building on the market and apparently, told staff the paper would likely stay as some sort of tenant. Paying rent I suppose. Real, real smart, Gannett.
ReplyDeleteIt's official: Corporate is or has put the Poughkeepsie Journal building on the market and apparently, told staff the paper would likely stay as some sort of tenant. Paying rent I suppose. Real, real smart, Gannett.
ReplyDeleteI thought that decision had already been made back in March 2009? Was it pulled from the market?
ReplyDelete