Calgary Herald building sold, signalling the end of an era

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Nearly a decade after it first got here in the marketplace, the Calgary Herald constructing has been offered, symbolizing a altering media panorama.

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The imposing brick landmark overlooking Deerfoot Path and Memorial Drive SE was constructed by U-Haul Canada Ltd. purchased for $17.25 million, it was introduced Wednesday.

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It is a transfer that underscores the truth that main newspapers, whose pedigree dates again to the nineteenth century, now not have a newsroom presence in Calgary.

U-Haul Canada purchased the 90,000-square-foot Calgary Solar constructing in 2020, about 4 years after workers from that newspaper joined their one-time rivals within the Herald newsroom underneath the Postmedia umbrella.

The transfer was a part of a media consolidation in a steadily shrinking newspaper world weighed down by digital realities.

The Calgary Herald’s operations moved from its downtown location at seventh Avenue and 1st Road SW to the newest 391,000-square-foot web site in 1981, then valued at $70 million.

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After the Herald moved its 800 staff to the hilltop landmark positioned on a railroad line in late 1981, then-publisher Frank G. Swanson stated the brand new constructing hosted “the newspaper of the longer term.”

And so it appeared, with its spacious, fashionable structure and worker facilities, together with an unprecedented company daycare.

Its 1979-vintage Goss Metroliner presses have been decommissioned in November 2014, with the job being outsourced.

At first of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, editorial workers evacuated the newsroom and started working remotely from house.

They by no means returned.

Lately, the constructing, with its cavernous inside, has been used as a set for a number of TV and film productions, corresponding to Jann, Fargo and Wynonna Earp.

Extra to come back.

BKaufmann@postmedia.com

Twitter: @BillKaufmannjrn