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Advertiser to build The Honolulu Advertiser said today it will build a $70 million, state-of-the-art printing plant and distribution center in Kapolei, a move that raises the stakes in the looming war between Honolulu's two daily newspapers.
plant in Kapolei
Gannett expects to complete
the $70 million print and
distribution facility
in three yearsBy Rick Daysog
Star-Bulletin
The Advertiser, which is owned by Arlington, Va.-based Gannett Co., said it has reached a tentative agreement to purchase an 11.6-acre parcel from the Estate of James Campbell on which it will build the 160,000-square-foot plant.
The announcement came 10 days before the Honolulu Advertiser is set to end its joint operating agreement with the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and compete head-to-head with the afternoon daily.
"This gives us the ability to build one of the most technologically advanced printing facilities in the country," said Mike Fisch, president and publisher of the Advertiser.
The project, near Campbell Industrial Park, will break ground later this year and is scheduled for completion in early 2004. The plant will be about double the size of the Advertiser's existing printing facilities in Kakaako.
The Advertiser said Gannett will spend about $29.5 million on construction and another $40.6 million on its new high-tech printing presses. The Advertiser also said it plans to relocate about 400 printing and distribution jobs to Kapolei from its existing facilities at the back of the Honolulu Advertiser Building in Kakaako. The company's business and news departments will remain in the Advertiser Building, which will get a multimillion dollar face lift.
Fisch said there are not plans at this time to redevelop its existing printing plant. The deal comes as Campbell Estate is in the midst of a major push to attract large business tenants to Kapolei. The landowner recently signed a lease with Mid-Pacific Broadband Inc. to build a $125 million Internet data network access point.
The new plant is long overdue for the Advertiser. Its current printing presses are more than 30 years old. It also coincides with a new environment in which the Advertiser will have to compete with the rival Star-Bulletin for readership and advertising.
For more than 30 years, Honolulu's two dailies worked under an agreement in which they shared printing and business costs.
"This is the benefit of competition," said David Black, whose Oahu Publications will assume ownership of the Star-Bulletin on March 15. "Our definition for winning (the newspaper battle) is to have two good daily newspapers here."
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