Ledger-Enquirer moves to Hardaway Building

After more than 80 years at the corner of 12th Street and Front Avenue, the Ledger-Enquirer has officially moved two blocks south to the corner of Broadway and 10th Street, across the street from the RiverCenter for the Performing Arts.

The newspaper occupies the entire second floor and a portion of the first floor of the Hardaway Building. The paper’s 17,000 square feet of office space is a fraction of the approximately 170,000 it left behind in the old half-city-block campus.

Customers wanting to do business with the paper’s front office can enter the Hardaway Building off of Broadway. The paper’s front office is on your right as you enter.

The first-floor offices house the paper’s finance and classified advertising departments and single copy sales. The second floor houses the newsroom and the advertising, circulation, human resources, production and IT departments.

Customers visiting the new facility can park on 10th Street or on Broadway or in a customer parking lot on the south side of the building.

Executive Editor Dimon Kendrick-Holmes said a lot of people have asked him if he misses the old building, and the answer is no.

“We now have an efficient new digital-first workspace that allows us to provide news and information on website, mobile, tablet and social media, in addition to the newspaper,” Kendrick-Holmes said. “Our focus is on what’s outside the building: the audience we serve, the people we cover, the leaders we hold accountable and the stories we get to tell.”

Kendrick-Holmes said the newsroom staff also seems to be happy with the move.

“We have a great, veteran staff, and of course they have many fond memories of the old Ledger-Enquirer building,” he said. “But they seem to be excited about the move and for the opportunity to move forward.”

Stephanie Pedersen, senior editor for digital, said the new newsroom will offer staff an array of technology unavailable in the old building. That includes a “media wall” that utilizes six television screens and a large SMART board.

“We’ll be able to quickly track news and analytics and have an opportunity to adjust our coverage plans accordingly,” Pedersen said. “The great thing about the digital era of our media business is that we know what readers like, how they engage in stories, how long they stay on a page, etc. These tools help us understand our audience better than ever before.”

The SMART board will allow the staff to provide breaking news videos with analysis and detailed graphics and will help editors create better planning strategies.

The building also offers reporters and editors much faster Internet access and a new telephone system that allows reporters to access voicemail from their email accounts.

Robert Slay, director of digital advertising said the sales staff is excited about the new, more modern space and the new technology available.

“It allows them to get their job done more efficiently,” Slay said. “It allows them to do their job out of the building, which is what we want them to do.”

Slay said in addition to the advanced technology, the more modern office space helps his staff portray the company as what it is, a 21st century digital company.

“We want our customers to understand that we’re selling a huge portfolio of digital products now,” Slay said. “Not just ledger-enquirer.com, but search engine marketing, Google, Bing, Yahoo, Cars.com, a huge portfolio of products. So we need to look like a digital company, and I think this space looks like a digital company more than the old space did.”

Wanda Howell, director of human resources, said employees all over the building are excited about the move.

“I’ve heard employees say that it is obvious that great care was taken with each work unit, and how the new space is designed,” Howell said. “I’ve also heard employees say that it’s obvious that we’re in it for the long haul, that this investment in this new facility makes them feel good about their jobs and the future of the company.”

This story was originally published February 2, 2015 at 6:20 PM with the headline "Ledger-Enquirer moves to Hardaway Building."