Charlotte Observer considers leasing new offices at NASCAR Plaza tower

The Charlotte Observer is considering a move to new office space at the NASCAR Plaza building uptown, where the company would place its newsroom, advertising and administrative offices.

A building permit filed Monday shows the Observer moving forward with potential plans for the space, but no lease or sublease has been signed.

“We hope to move to a new location this year,” Publisher Ann Caulkins said Monday in a note to employees. “We have pulled building permits for three floors of the former Chiquita space that we're considering, but at the moment we have not entered into any binding lease or sublease, and the actual performance of any work will be dependent on coming to final terms on a lease or sublease.”

Chiquita Brands International recently vacated six floors of the building at Stonewall and South Caldwell streets, after moving its international headquarters following its acquisition by two Brazilian firms.

Workers removed the banana company’s logo from the top of the building in November. The 20-story office tower is owned by Parkway Properties, and is attached to the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

The Observer’s new offices would provide a more modern workplace for the company, which has undergone major changes in the transition from a print-focused company to a digital-first news organization. A number of other newspapers, including The Miami Herald, The Washington Post and The Philadelphia Inquirer, have sold their downtown buildings in recent years and moved to newer offices.

Charlotte development firm Lincoln Harris is under contract to buy the Observer’s current site on South Tryon Street in a deal that hasn’t closed yet. Lincoln Harris hasn’t said what it plans to do with the 9.4-acre site, which is one of the largest tracts available for redevelopment in uptown.

Current building dates to ’71

The Observer’s current building has stood since 1971. The 360,000 square-foot, concrete-and-glass edifice has long been a dominant fixture on the southern end of uptown, covering two city blocks with facilities that included printing presses, a newsprint warehouse, parking lots and offices. It housed both the Observer and the afternoon Charlotte News until the latter merged with the Observer and ceased publication in 1985.

In 2014, the Observer moved its printing operations from the first floor of 600 South Tryon to a University City printing plant it acquired from the Dow Jones publishing company for $5 million. And as the Observer has reduced staff, parts of the current building are no longer used. At 44 years old, the building is also significantly older and less energy-efficient than most other office space uptown.

California-based McClatchy, the Observer’s parent company, transferred ownership of the uptown property to its pension fund in 2011, as part of a deal to cover a $50 million payment obligation.

The pending sale of the Observer site comes as development booms on the south side of uptown, fueled by the breakneck pace of apartment construction and a lack of new office space available. Plans for the Stonewall Street corridor include two office towers, hundreds of apartments, three hotels and a Whole Foods. Crescent Communities plans to break ground Wednesday on the Whole Foods and adjoining apartments.

This story was originally published January 4, 2016 at 3:56 PM with the headline "Charlotte Observer considers leasing new offices at NASCAR Plaza tower."