A City of El Paso purchase of a three-story cement building that for years has housed the printing presses of the El Paso Times is expected to be finalized later this year.
Members of the El Paso City Council early last month gave their approval to acquiring the structure in downtown El Paso at 501 Mills Street for around $3.6 million, with the goal of turning it into new office space for the city.
Sitting on a 2.2-acre site, the building’s official owners are the Texas-New Mexico Newspapers company, which has offices in Austin.
The building has long been a vital mechanical part of the El Paso Times operation, daily putting out a paper delivered to all parts of metro El Paso, as well as Las Cruces and parts of northern Mexico.
Founded in 1881, the El Paso Times is one of the largest daily papers in the southwest, second in circulation only to the Arizona Republic and Albuquerque Journal.
Earlier this fall the Texas-New Mexico Newspaper company announced that it would begin printing the El Paso Times some 37 miles away and across the border in Ciudad Juarez.
That Cuidad Juarez facility prints the El Diario de Juarez, the largest paper in that city.
In making the announcement of the new printing location, Tim Archuleta, editor of the El Paso Times, said, “Our newsroom and advertising teams remain committed to serving our community as we make this adjustment.”
The paper’s exit from its El Paso printing site prompted city officials to contemplate a new use for the 73,400 square foot building, which is located adjacent to the City Hall.
City officials subsequently decided that a purchase of the structure to use for a variety of administrative offices made more sense than maintaining those offices at different locations, which is now the case.
Nearly a decade ago, the city bought the former El Paso Times headquarters at 300 N. Campbell Street, across the street from the paper’s printing facilities, and subsequently repurposed the building into a new City Hall location.
By Garry Boulard
