Kansas City Star parent considers sale and leaseback of press facility and other properties

The Kansas City Star’s iconic green glass printing facility is among properties that its parent company is considering selling and then leasing back, the newspaper’s publisher said Wednesday.

Tony Berg, who became publisher of The Star in January, told employees that the press building and the brick headquarters at 18th Street and Grand Boulevard are among buildings that McClatchy is considering for such transactions.

A sale-leaseback provides cash to the seller and allows continued use of the property with no disruptions to operations, in this case producing and printing The Star and printing other publications.

The lease agreement assures the buyer of a tenant and income.

Elaine Lintecum, chief financial officer of McClatchy, said the company is working with CBRE Group Inc. Its brokers are working to attract potential buyers for the properties in Kansas City as well as McClatchy newspaper buildings in Sacramento, Calif., and Columbia, S.C., she said.

“We’ll see what the market brings and make a decision … whether to move forward,” Lintecum said.

McClatchy has generated cash from similar transactions with other buildings in its chain.

The consideration comes amid other changes across the industry and at The Star, including turning the Kansas City printing facility into a regional hub that prints other daily newspapers inside and outside the McClatchy chain.

This story was originally published April 13, 2016 at 11:12 AM with the headline "Kansas City Star parent considers sale and leaseback of press facility and other properties."