Daily News plans to move

MOSCOW - The Moscow-Pullman Daily News will find a new home in the Moscow federal building after more than 50 years downtown.

Its building at 409 S. Jackson St. is contracted to be sold for $1 million to independent real estate developer and contractor Mark Wintz of Wintz and Company LLC. The closing date for the sale is set for March 29, but could be sooner, said Nathan Alford, editor and publisher of both the Daily News and Lewiston Tribune.

Alford said the current building - the fourth location on the Palouse in more than 100 continuous years of daily Moscow newspapers - has too much space with the recent investment by TPC Holdings in a $12 million press and production facility in Lewiston. TPC Holdings is the parent company of both newspapers.

"The needs of our newspaper have changed," he said. "We simply don't need the 10,000 square feet of space."

Alford said the new federal building office, which is owned by Gritman Medical Center, is the right size. The Lewiston Tribune Moscow bureau, which is housed in the same building as the Daily News, also will move into the federal building.

Wintz organized a partnership to purchase the building, and will lease it to Economic Modeling Specialists Intl., a firm that provides labor market data needed for businesses, community colleges and universities. The company was recently acquired by job-finding website Careerbuilder.com. Careerbuilder.com is jointly owned by three newspaper chains: Gannett Co. Inc., Tribune Co. and The McClatchy Co.

The building will undergo a remodel to fit the needs of EMSI. Wintz said EMSI CEO Andrew Crapuchettes approached him in October 2011 about purchasing and renovating a building that could fit the needs of a growing EMSI.

Crapuchettes said EMSI's growth has been constrained by its current location in the Moscow Urban Renewal Agency's Alturas Technology Park.

By moving to Jackson Street, he said the firm will be able to hire more employees, especially since Careerbuilder.com purchased a majority of its shares five months ago.

"We have about 80 employees now and we're packed into our building," Crapuchettes said.

Wintz said while EMSI will modernize the space, it will also maintain some of the original features to help give EMSI a downtown identity.

"I know that Nathan, the Alfords, have a long history there," Wintz said, "and we think that one of the values is not only the location, but its history and some of the qualities built into it originally - the brick facade - we want to keep in it."

Renovations for the building itself will cost more than $1 million, Wintz said, and will begin in April. Wintz is the general contractor for the project.

Alford said the newspaper's new 2,767-square-foot location will require more than $20,000 of renovations and technology improvements, but he is excited to be part of improving and investing in the federal building. Renovations will begin Monday and Daily News offices should be completely moved and running by April 15.

B.J. Swanson, Gritman board director, said the Daily News lease was signed Friday. Swanson said costs for the renovations will be shared between Gritman and the Daily News.

"We're very pleased to have the newspaper in here," she said. "We have the perfect space for it, and we want to keep (the Daily News) in Moscow."

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Elizabeth Rudd can be reached at (208) 882-5561, ext. 237, or by email to erudd@dnews.com.