SYRACUSE — The Syracuse Media Group, the company that produces The Post-Standard newspaper and syracuse.com news website, formally opened its new 27,000-square-foot headquarters Wednesday in the Merchants Commons building at 220 S. Warren St.
Syracuse Media Group was formed on Jan. 1 as part of a restructuring announced last year by its parent company Advance Publications, Inc. to focus on digital publishing. As part of the move, the company slashed its newspaper publishing schedule, cut home delivery to three days a week, and laid off more than 110 Post-Standard employees.
The company first announced in mid-January that it would be moving to Merchants Commons in April, but the move was delayed as it worked on wrapping up renovations.
“…We wanted to get it right, so it just took us time to work with Joe Hucko who is the landlord here and with our own construction and architecture firm and make sure we got it right,” Tim Kennedy, president of Syracuse Media Group, told The Business Journal in an interview Wednesday. Kennedy led about 100 Syracuse Media Group staffers in a walk from the company’s former Clinton Square headquarters to the new office yesterday, inviting the media to observe their arrival.
The new office, which features an open design, will help showcase the media company’s digital capabilities, it says. About 170 employees will work there, according to Kennedy.
When asked about the business results so far for Syracuse Media Group, Kennedy says, “…We have seen growth … in our digital platform by 10 to 20 percent. We’ve seen growth in our digital revenue, and I think things have turned out as we had expected when we made the changes.”
Kennedy contends that the company has also met its goals on the circulation side.
“Our print circulation is in line with our expectations as a result of the change, and our digital readership both for the ePost-Standard and for Syracuse.com has beat our expectations,” Kennedy says. “So I think we are very happy with our ability to hold our audience and grow our digital audience.”
Syracuse Media Group’s new space is part of a broader redevelopment project at Merchants Commons. Hucko, the developer and president of Syracuse–based real-estate brokerage firm Washington St. Partners, Inc., is also planning to roll out apartments on the upper floors of the building.