Sale of former Fresno Bee building postponed
CORRECTION: A prior version of this story incorrectly stated the Fresno Bee building was sold Thursday. The City Council was expected to vote on the sale of the building as part of the consent calendar. The item was pulled, and the vote is expected to take place next month.
The Fresno City Council next month will consider whether to approve the purchase of the former Fresno Bee building, which is owned by the McClatchy pension fund.
The item was on Thursday’s consent calendar, but was pulled from the agenda.
The property at 1626 E St. could potentially house department of public utility operations, officials have said.
Officials said in September city plans call for the construction of a new $87 million facility that would translate to a significant rate hike for customers. Moving into the E Street building would be much cheaper.
Plus, there are plans to move toward electrifying public bus and garbage truck fleets in the coming years. The former Bee property has the electric infrastructure needed to operate such vehicles, officials have said.
The Fresno Bee began operations in 1922 in a building at 1545 Van Ness Ave., which was the Fresno Metropolitan Museum of Art and Science for some time before becoming home to CMAC.
The E Street building went up in the early 1970s as a production facility, housing the pressroom and circulation departments. An addition in the 1990s added a state-of-the-art flexographic printing press and a packaging center.
The second floor over what was the old press bay and packaging center was renovated in 2000 to house the newsroom. The building is 295,000 square feet and sits on approximately 12 acres.
The Bee relocated its printing operations in 2016.
The Bee in early March moved its operations to the newly remodeled Bitwise 41 building in downtown, but moved out in September. Employees continue to work remotely during the coronavirus pandemic.
This story was originally published October 22, 2020 at 12:39 PM.
