City buying El Paso Times building next to City Hall for $3.6M
EL PASO, Texas -- El Paso City Council voted Tuesday to purchase the El Paso Times building that had housed the newspaper's printing press operations at 501 Mills Street for $3.6 million.
The city bought another El Paso Times building at 300 N. Campbell, which had housed the newsroom and administrative offices, back in 2013 and relocated City Hall there. The building currently carries the name 'City 1.'
That purchase allowed the old City Hall to be imploded to make room for construction of downtown's Southwest University Park, where the El Paso Chihuahuas baseball team and Locomotive FC soccer team now play.
Earlier this month, the El Paso Times moved its printing operations to Ciudad Juárez as a cost-saving measure and put the 2.25-acre property on Mills up for sale.
Officials said owning the building adjacent to City Hall will provide much-needed extra space for city operations.
“This is a strategic acquisition for the city, so we recommended that Council acquire the property that shares a wall, surface parking lot and other amenities with City Hall,” City Engineer Sam Rodriguez said. “Acquiring the property just makes good business sense as it enables the city to bring more services to one physical location, as opposed to having them at different sites.”
