Hartford Business Journal

14 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | NOVEMBER 17, 2025 A rendering of a mixed-use transformation of the former New London headquarters of The Day newspaper. Contributed Image Fading Icons Historic CT newspaper HQs face new futures amid industry decline and industrial building that long housed the nation's oldest contin- uously published newspaper — is heading to an online auction Dec. 8-10. The four-story building was constructed in phases between 1928 and 1987. It sits on nearly 4.4 acres near the state Capitol in Hartford. Marcus & Millichap is marketing the property. Hartford Town Council member John Q. Gale, 74, recalled touring the Courant offices with his elementary school class. In fifth and sixth grade, he hawked papers for the Courant, walking a cartload from room to room every morning at St. Francis Hospital. No matter how sick a patient was, they always wanted the paper, he recalled. As a youth, Gale, now an attorney, walked to the Courant building every Saturday morning to line up with other paperboys waiting to settle their accounts. "It wasn't a place you could just pop into, but it felt like a place that was sacred," Gale said. Now, the property could sell for as little as $20,001. After more than four years on the market and one failed auction, the former Courant headquarters is being sold through an "abso- lute auction," meaning it will sell regardless of price. Bidding starts at $1, with buyers required to pay a premium to online platform RI Marketplace — either $20,000 or 5% of the bid, whichever is higher. In December 2020, the Courant closed its offices and shifted staff to remote work. Tribune Co., its parent company, still leases part of the building, along with the parent of Fox 61. Together, they occupy about 23% of the space. A limited liability company tied to New York-based Alden Global Capital bought the property for $6.9 million in 2018. Alden later acquired Tribune Co., including the Courant, in 2021. By Michael Puffer mpuffer@hartfordbusiness.com F or more than 70 years, the Republican-American news- paper called downtown Waterbury home, operating from an imposing Renaissance revival-style brick building topped with a 245-foot clock tower. The news organization, which covers Greater Waterbury and Litchfield County, had direct ties to thousands of area residents who either worked for the paper or had family employed by it. Many others felt strong ties to the Rep-Am and the building that housed it since 1952. "You identify Waterbury with that whole clock-tower building," said Joseph McGrath, the city's economic development director. "For those of us who were born and raised in Waterbury, the Republican-American building — it's just an icon." Earlier this year, amid years of declining circulation and revenue, the paper's longtime owners, the Pape family, sold the company to Hearst Connecticut Media Group and later told the new owners to vacate the 70,000-square-foot property at 389 Meadow St. The building is now under contract with an undisclosed buyer eyeing a conversion into apartments and ground-floor commercial space. The fate of the Republican-Ameri- can's former home reflects a broader trend across Connecticut and the nation: downtown newspaper headquarters are being sold and repurposed as the industry they once anchored continues to shrink. Hartford Courant That pattern is also playing out in Hartford, where the former Hartford Courant headquarters at 285 Broad St. — a 286,415-square-foot office The Hartford Courant's former home at 285 Broad St., in Hartford. Photo | CoStar What's next for former newspaper HQs? NEWSPAPER CITY ADDRESS BUILDING SIZE (SQ FT) PLANNED REDEVELOPMENT Republican-American Waterbury 389 Meadow St. 70,000 Apartments, ground-floor commercial Hartford Courant Hartford 285 Broad St. 286,415 TBD (auction) The Day New London 47 Eugene O'Neill Dr. 50,041 65 apartments, retail and museum

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