Former Houston Chronicle site: Rendering of new tower shows Hines’ 717 Texas Avenue building (left), new Hines building (center) and Hines’ Chase Tower on right.
HOUSTON – (Realty News Report) – A massive urban site formerly used by the Orange County Register newspaper is in play for a major redevelopment, continuing a long line of newspaper properties being recast as print media transitions into the digital world.
Lee & Associates will be leasing the 1.7 million SF office development and is working with developer Caribou Industries in procuring a joint-venture equity investor for developing the 20-acre parcel in Santa Ana, Calif.
Around the nation, urban newspaper property has been changing hands and being redeveloped at a rapid pace.
In Houston, Hines is developing a 1 million-SF tower on the former Houston Chronicle site, a downtown block bounded by Texas Avenue, Milam, Travis and Prairie. The 47-story building, developed with partner Ivanhoe Cambridge, will be complete in 2021.
In Austin, the 19-acre Austin American-Statesman property is being planned for development by the Cox Family and Endeavor Real Estate Group. The downtown newspaper land is considered the finest site in Austin with its location on Congress Avenue with significant frontage along Lady Bird Lake. The newspaper, which still operates there, hired CBRE to lease some of its excess space in the building.
In Dallas, the former Dallas Morning News property, a 7-acre site near the convention center, was under contract to be sold for $33 million to KDC and Hoque Global. But that contract was dropped last year when Amazon said Dallas was no longer in the running for Amazon HQ2. The Dallas newspaper relocated to another downtown location in 2017.
In San Antonio, the former San Antonio Light building, 420 Broadway, is being redeveloped by Gray Street Partners.
In Los Angeles, the historic Herald Examiner building is being redeveloped by The Georgetown Co. of New York. On Friday, HFF announced it arranged $56.4 million in financing to redevelop the building, which was completed in 1914 on the request of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst.
In Santa Ana, Calif., the development will be aided by its location in the Santa Ana Opportunity Zone. Across the nation, the Opportunity Zones are a new red-hot investment tool that can allow investors to defer capital gains taxes.
Lee & Associates Orange principals Jack Haley, Marshal Vogt, Matt Orville, and Jaimeson Hearne will be partnering with Caribou Industries on developing project. 625IVE will be a 20-acre mixed-use transit-oriented redevelopment of the former Orange County Register site located at 625 N Grand Avenue. This freeway adjacent, city-block redevelopment is conceived as a game-changing urban live/work/play project that will provide the region with a true urban core. One Broadway Plaza is the culmination of a two-decade partnership between Caribou Industries and the City of Santa Ana to transform Orange County’s urban center.
