Star Tribune's move to new digs underway

Some of the last remnants of the Star Tribune staff will move this weekend from the newspaper's old headquarters on Portland Avenue in Minneapolis.

Two-thirds of the company's 600 employees from different departments have already moved to the new location at the Capella Tower complex in downtown Minneapolis, according to reporter Kristen Painter. The 250-person newsroom will make the move over the weekend.

"It is a little bit of an emotional move, I think, for some people," Painter said. "But it does make a lot of business sense."

The newspaper's nearly 100-year-old building will be demolished late in the summer to make way for a 4.2-acre park that will lead to the new Vikings stadium.

"There's been a mix of anticipation and nostalgia in the air as employees, many of whom have spent decades in the Portland building, prepare for a new chapter in the company's history," the company said in an editorial last week.

The company's new 138,000-square-foot space occupies the 11th through 13th floors of what had been known as the Park Building, now rebranded the Star Tribune Building. It's part of the Capella Tower complex in downtown Minneapolis, about four blocks from the newspaper's former home.

Painter said the newspaper had been occupying a "very large building that once held about 2,500 people." With the headquarters staff down to about 600, "it is a lot of underutilized space or unused space."

The Star Tribune owns the Heritage printing plant in the Minneapolis Warehouse District. It will continue printing the paper at that plant.