DULUTH – The longtime Duluth News Tribune building has been sold to the Duluth Public Schools, pending a closing agreement.
Duluth News Tribune sells building to school district
The downtown property has been on the market since 2017.
July 27, 2023 at 10:50PM
The school district agreed to pay $600,000 for the 64,000-square-foot downtown building, on the market since 2017. It plans to use the building for storage, enrollment services and its alternative education programs, including Duluth Adult Education.
News Tribune Publisher Neal Ronquist didn't immediately return a message, but has said the newspaper, which publishes a print product twice a week and online daily, would relocate to better meet the needs of the company.
The building hasn't had a printing press since 2014, when owner Fargo-based Forum Communications began operating a new one in a facility near the Duluth International Airport. That closed in 2021, and the newspaper reduced its once-daily print run in 2020.
The nearly 75-year-old property was listed for $900,000. The school district is also selling transportation and storage facilities, and a new administration building is nearing completion on the site of the former Central High School on the hillside. That will replace its space inside Historic Old Central High School, under renovation to become apartments.
The school district has two downtown leases it will end to consolidate the programs housed through them in the News Tribune building.
The proposal suggests removing the 20-year protection on the Superior National Forest that President Joe Biden’s administration had ordered in 2023.
