The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com are moving their offices to the redeveloped Park Central Mall in midtown Phoenix, leaving downtown for the first time in the news organization’s 135-year history.
The new space will be roughly the same size as the existing newsroom and will provide space for its journalists as well as sales, marketing and distribution divisions.
The Republic newsroom also employs reporters based in Tucson, and employees on the business side often work remotely.
“Feedback from staff has been overwhelmingly positive,” said Greg Burton, executive editor for The Republic, azcentral.com and La Voz Arizona. “This is a modern workspace that fits our needs and brightens our environment.”
Burton said the new office is in a prime location near Valley Metro light rail with access to restaurants, a gym and entertainment options. The company was expected to move into the new office space in November.
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The Arizona Republic building at 200 E. Van Buren St. in Phoenix.
The Republic, which became a daily newspaper in 1890, was first headquartered in downtown Phoenix near First Avenue and Washington Street, in the Heard building. It was then called The Arizona Republican. It changed its name to Arizona Republic in 1930, the same year it purchased the Phoenix Evening Gazette, which became known as the Phoenix Gazette.
In 1946, the morning paper became known as The Arizona Republic, and in 1947 construction began on a two-story office building for The Republic and Gazette at 120 E. Van Buren St.
The newspapers remained headquartered there until 1995, when the office moved across the street to a new building at 200 E. Van Buren Street.
The newspaper’s website, azcentral.com, also launched that year. Gannett Co., Inc., parent company of The Republic, purchased La Voz in 2005.
In July, the company announced it was closing its Deer Valley printing facility in north Phoenix and moving its production to Las Vegas beginning in October.
Expansive office space
The newspaper’s new office at Park Central will be 17,000 square feet, Andrew Cheney, a broker with Lee and Associates who represented Park Central in the lease, said.
An aerial photo shows the redeveloped Park Central Mall, which has been reused as a commercial office and mixed-use campus.
“We have one of the most exciting atmospheres on Central Avenue right now,” Cheney said of the activity at Park Central, listing Creighton University, the new hotel, EOS Fitness, restaurants and apartments, as benefits for Park Central. “There is something for everyone there right now.”
Phoenix recently designated the area around Park Central as a bioscience core, known as “Phoenix Medical Quarter, Global Advancement of Health and Education.”
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Sharon Harper, chairperson and CEO of Plaza Cos., one of the co-developers of Park Central, said the success of the redeveloped mall is “such a tribute to Phoenix for sure.”
“Park Central has risen as the epitome of the history and the future of the city,” she said.
Along with The Republic, Dress for Success Phoenix, a nonprofit organization that provides unemployed people with professional clothing and job training to help them reenter the workforce, recently moved its office to Park Central.
The Arizona Republic will lease office space at Park Central, moving from downtown Phoenix to midtown.
Park Central development continues
Harper said new development projects are in the works for the former mall as well. Plaza Cos. is in escrow with the Dinerstein Cos., the developer of an apartment complex already at the former mall, on another site to build an additional apartment building.
Barrow Neurological Institute is also in the early stages of planning a new bioscience building at the site.
Artlink, an arts organization, is planning a new set of programs for performing arts at Park Central.
“We wanted to be a leader in the mix of biosciences, commercial office and arts and culture,” Harper said of the curation of tenants at Park Central.
Corina Vanek covers development for The Arizona Republic. Reach her at cvanek@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on X @CorinaVanek.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com are moving to Park Central
