Graham Holdings Company, the parent firm of The Washington Post has struck a deal to sell the headquarters of the daily newspaper giant at 1150, 15th Street Washington D.C. to Carr Properties, a popular real estate investment firm for $159 million, according to several news reports.
Sometime back in February 2013, the company announced that it is contemplating a move and exploring all possible ways of selling the building. After 10 months, the company has finally found a suitable buyer for the building.
The transaction will be completed by March 2014. The deal not only includes the sale of 1150 15th Street but also comprises of 1515 L St. and 1523 L St, reports The Business Journal. Government records assess the property's worth to be about $80 million.
The company will be leasing space in the building until it finds a suitable place to move to. According to Business Day, Graham Holdings has already embarked on a HQ hunt and is apparently looking for about 27,000 to 30,000 square feet of space. It had reportedly received a lot of offers through the summer.
Earlier in February, officials of the company asserted that they wanted to shed some real estate to focus and cater to the increasing demand of digitalized news.
"Our goal is to give us a more modern, bright, open and efficient building. Our preliminary analysis suggests that a move will make good operational and economic sense, however we have not yet decided on where or when," Katharine Weymouth, Publisher of the Washington Post wrote in a note to the staff in February, reports The Wall Street Journal.
Earlier in August, Jeff Bezos, owner of Amazon took over the publishing business of Washington Post for $250 million. Don Graham, chairman of Graham Holdings (then the Washington Company) said that they sold because revenues were looking bad and no amount of innovation was working in favour of it.
Related: Don Graham Explains Why he Sold the Washington Post
Meanwhile, Carr Properties is pretty elated with the purchase. The Washington-based property investment firm hopes to convert the building and the adjacent parcels into a mixed development.
"I would imagine a mixed-use redevelopment that would include both some office as well as some residential, perhaps hotel. It could add some vitality," Carr said in an earlier interview with the Post.
This is not the first of its kind deal. Earlier, other publications like the New York Post, Advance Publications and Gannett Company have also cut down on their tangible assets to focus on core business.