The two for sale signs are up in front of the Timmins Daily Press building for all to see.
The paper, located at located at 147 Cedar Street S. however, isn’t going anywhere just yet said Craig Bernard senior vice-president of Postmedia.
“The building is up for sale,” Bernard confirmed. “But not the operation of the Timmins Daily Press.”
“We are committed to staying in Timmins,” he added.
“The building was constructed at a time when the entire operation of the Daily Press was located in one place,” Bernard explained.
“Right now, we are not using much of the space and that is costly,” he said.
As for where the Daily Press operation in Timmins will be located in future, Bernard said until the building is sold the newspaper will continue to operate there on Cedar St. S.
“The Daily Press will continue in Timmins at its current location,” affirmed Bernard. “The building is for sale and at the time when it is sold we will look at other locations to move our operations.”
In a news release issued on July 7, 2016 Postmedia announced they would be looking at ways to reduce costs and payback outstanding debt owed by Postmedia. Part of the financial restructuring plan centred on analyzing its real estate holdings to see which were essential and which could be sold off.
One possible reconfiguration could have the Daily Press move into a store front operation similar to Radio-Canadian on Third Avenue near Balsam St. S.
Since the takeover of the Daily Press by Quebecor from Sunmedia in 2013, the Quebec media giant decentralized the paper’s operations. Layouts are now carried out in Barrie and printing in North Bay.
Postmedia purchased the Sunmedia portion of Quebecor’s media empire in April 2015 after the decentralization took place.
As to the future of the building, at least one Timmins city councillor thinks there is a market for it.
“The area is not currently part of the Timmins Downtown Business Association as our boundary is Second Avenue,” said Noella Rinaldo, one of the councillors for Ward 5 and also the executive director of the Downtown Business Association.
“But I have heard there are couple of companies interested in the space,” she said in a telephone interview with Timminstoday.
“It’s a very attractive space and a fairly modern building in good shape with a parking lot and loading dock,” said Rinaldo.
According to the web page of Bruno Gendron, the real estate agent with Royal Lepage, the property is listed for $1.9 and is zoned commercial, although next to it on the north is located the residential Flamingo Motel.
The Dante Club one of the largest social clubs in Timmins is located across the street.
According to people who once worked in the building, it was constructed for 60-70 employees back in the late 80s. Today there are only about a dozen people working there.
Roy Thomson built the original Daily Press building in 1939 to house Timmins’ then-new newspaper the Timmins Daily Press and also his Timmins radio station CKGB. Thomson brought radio to Northern Ontario in 1931, approximately 10 years after radio was introduced in Southern Ontario. The original Thomson building was considered by architectural experts to be one of the finest examples of art modern architecture Canada.
According to Councillor Michael Doody, also representing Ward Five, the original Thomson building was abandoned by Thomson in the wake of a CRTC ruling that newspapers could not own radio or television stations.
The Thomson family wanted to give it to the to the City of Timmins but was turned down. Eventually, after it was owned by a couple of business, the building fell into the City’s hands because of tax arrears and was subsequently torn down because of the cost of maintaining it.
The current, smaller building on Cedar St. that is now for sale was built in 1984 and housed the newsroom, the layout room and the printing presses. Its design also maintained some rounded curves typical of the art modern style.
The Thomson family sold the Timmins Daily Press and its other small newspapers across Canada to Conrad Black’s Hollinger Inc. which ironically had its start as one of Timmins’ first mines in 1909.
The historical sign on the wall of the Daily Press building states:
“In May, 1996 it was official. The Thomson family pulled out its stakes from its original home in Timmins. And put the Daily Press up for sale.
Hollinger Inc. the global conglomerate that grew from local prospector Benny Hollinger’s dream bought the newspaper – and many others -from the Thomson empire. With the purchase, Benny Hollinger’s small company became the largest newspaper company in Canada.
Hollinger has come home to Timmins- and has demonstrated again that great dreams can be dreamt and achieved in the City with Heart of Gold.”
