Tampa Bay Times downsizes Tampa office, moves out of downtown
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Feb 1, 2024

The Tampa Bay Times is trading its downtown high-rise for a low-slung flex building north of Tampa International Airport.

The newspaper announced its move from 1000 N. Ashley Drive on Wednesday in a column written by Conan Gallaty, chairman and CEO of Times Publishing Co. Its news operation is in suite 710 at 5505 Johns Road; advertising is in suites 601-602. Flex buildings are suitable for light industrial and office uses.

The Times had had an office in downtown Tampa for 32 years, Gallaty wrote. It maintains its downtown St. Petersburg presence at 490 First Ave. The Times owned that building until 2016.

“We’ve embraced more hybrid work options for our employees,” Gallaty said in a statement. “We don’t need the office space that we did before. We still cover Hillsborough County vigorously and have decided on a different office space in Tampa that better suits our needs.”

The Times and daily newspapers across the U.S. have struggled to build profitable business models for the last 20 years, as advertising revenues have fallen and paid subscriptions have failed to make up the difference. Downgrading its Tampa real estate is the latest manifestation of those financial woes.

In 2014, the Times abandoned its naming rights on what is now Amalie Arena; in May 2016, it bought and shuttered the Tampa Tribune, hoping the consolidation of the two newspapers would lead to a more profitable future.

Shortly after the Covid-19 pandemic began, the Times cut production of its print edition to Wednesdays and Sundays. It sold off its printing plant in St. Petersburg in 2021.

A spokesperson for the Times declined to disclose the difference in square footage in the two office spaces but said the Johns Road offices are “significantly smaller.”

“The old offices could accommodate about 100 people,” Sherri Day wrote in an email. “The new offices can accommodate 20.”

In downtown Tampa, the Times occupied the entire seventh floor or 18,250 square feet, which is already being marketed for sublease. It also had signage and naming rights, with its masthead prominently displayed on the top of the building and visible from Interstate 275.

Signage, Gallaty wrote, has been erected on the Times’ new suburban home.

“Many of the physical things that marked the presence of the Times have changed in recent years,” he wrote. “Hundreds of newspaper boxes have been taken off the streets as most of our single-copy customers prefer to buy the Times in stores. Our printing plant in St. Petersburg was shuttered as we moved to two days of delivery and found printing in Lakeland more economical.”

New Jersey-based Denholtz Properties, which owns 1000 N. Ashley Drive, said Thursday that it plans to invest in the property in the wake of the Times' departure.

“The Tampa Bay Times will be vacating their space that covers the entirety of the seventh floor of 1000 N. Ashley Drive," a spokesperson wrote in an email. "The naming and signage rights for the building are now available as well. Denholtz Properties plans to announce a significant capital improvement project and rebranding of the building in the coming months.”