In $7 million deal, city of Reno closes on Reno Gazette Journal office sale

RENO, Nev. — Real estate firm CBRE recently announced the sale of the Reno Gazette Journal building and property to the city of Reno closed in late August.

The sale price, as first reported by the RGJ this summer, is just under $7 million.

According to a Sept. 13 news release from CBRE, Aiman Noursoultanova, of the company's Reno Investment Properties Group, represented the seller, Gannett (parent company of the RGJ), which has owned the 75,600-square-foot building since its construction in 1981.

The entire property, including parking, encompasses 7.71 acres.

The building at 955 Kuenzli St. was designed by famed Reno architect Raymond Hellman, who is perhaps best known for designing the Fleischmann Planetarium building on the University of Nevada, Reno campus in 1963, among other notable buildings.

According to the CBRE press release and previous reports from the RGJ, the newspaper decided to sell its building in 2017 after a move to outsource printing operations — among other business decisions, including decreasing staff size — led to the building no longer suiting the news organization's needs.

The city of Reno eventually opted to move forward this summer and purchase the property with the intention of turning it into its new police headquarters. It will replace the police station at 455 E. Second St., which the Reno Police Department has outgrown.

“The city has been looking for a new building for some time and this acquisition allows them to be strategically located and service the needs of the community,” Noursoultanova, a senior vice president with CBRE in Reno, saidn in a statement. “The building at 955 Kuenzli will not only allow for the Reno Police Department to consolidate all of their services into one building, but will require less of an investment to rehab and customize than building a new facility from scratch.”

"We are pleased that the city of Reno, CBRE and Gannett completed this sale quickly given the urgent space needs of our Police Department," Reno City Manager Sabra Newby said in a statement. "We recognize and honor the decades of groundbreaking journalism that happened inside this building.

"We're proud that our public safety personnel can carry on their critical duties as Reno expands and grows."

According to the RGJ, the cost of the purchase plus moving expenses and building new facilities and workspaces at 955 Kuenzli St. are expected to total $33 million. RPD anticipates a move-in date of June 2021, with an estimated 450 personnel affected by the move.

"While it's never easy to say goodbye to a newsroom that's been our home for nearly 40 years, we are excited about the next chapter for the Reno Gazette Journal," RGJ Executive Editor Brian Duggan said in an Aug. 29 story. "We are actively looking for a new office in downtown Reno that will better suit our digital future as a news organization."