What will happen to the Tampa Tribune?' Columnist ponders paper's future in wake of real estate deal
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Jul 13, 2015

Now that a Miami developer has confirmed plans to knock down the Tampa Tribune's waterfront building to make way for apartments, the Columbia Journalism Review is wondering what the future holds for the newspaper.

The CJR's Susannah Nesmith wrote in early July that "in the eyes of observers both near and far, things still look bleak for the Tribune," between the pending real estate deal, pay cuts and layoffs.

Tampa Bay Business Journal was first to report on April 17 that Miami-based Related Group was under contract to buy the Tribune's real estate and redevelop it into a residential building. Sources told TBBJ then that the rumored value of the deal is $19 million for the Tribune's 4.4-acre riverfront.

That's double the $9.5 million private equity Revolution Capital paid for the newspaper and its real estate in 2012. And it's a far cry from what Revolution could likely get for the business if they tried to sell it, an analyst told Nesmith.

"I think the serious answer is The Tampa Tribune is worth $1, the value of companies struggling for their lives,” analyst Ken Doctor said. "They could be barely profitable. They could be unprofitable. But there is not a forecastable strong positive cash flow.”

Tribune publisher Brian Burns did not return TBBJ's request for comment. But he told Nesmith that he is "actively looking at outside partners to print us and looking at the financial feasibility of moving the presses.”

Times Publishing Co., the parent company of the Tampa Bay Times, has recently taken on new commercial printing accounts as a way to boost revenue. Last fall, the company landed the contract to print and distribute USA Today in this region.

"Our commercial printing and delivery revenue has shown significant year over year gains in 2015," Joe DeLuca, Tampa publisher and vice president, said in an email that a Times spokesman sent to TBBJ. But that doesn't mean the Tribune will be coming off the Times' presses any time soon - a deal that would have been nothing short of ironic, given the legacy of cutthroat competition between the two papers

"We have not had discussions with the Tampa Tribune concerning commercial printing services," DeLuca said. "At this time, we are running our presses at capacity given our own printing volume, our commercial accounts and the resources we currently have in place."

The Tribune is not the only newspaper plagued by financial woes in the Bay region. The Times made headlines throughout 2014 for taking out a $28 million loan from a lender of last resort, abandoning its naming rights deal with the Tampa Bay Lightning and telling employees in mid-September " this is a good time to consider your options."

The Times has also put its flagship office building in downtown St. Petersburg on the market, though a Times spokesman declined to provide an update on that sales effort. Real estate sources say the Times will likely struggle to get its rumored $30 million asking price.

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune's downtown office building is also for sale.

"Newspaper buildings have traditionally been fairly significant buildings and anchors in downtowns across the nation and a statement,” Rick Edmonds, a media business analyst with The Poynter Institute, told TBBJ in April, "and that's just really not something that they can necessarily afford these days.”