[R]UTLAND – The former parent company of the Rutland Herald is getting ready to auction off its downtown properties, including the building that housed the publication’s newsroom for decades.
The Herald Association announced in a press release issued Wednesday that it has entered into an agreement with Eric Nathan to sell at auction four parcels of real estate in the heart of the city.
The auction is set for Friday, Oct. 27.
The Herald Association is the former owner of the Rutland Herald and Times Argus newspapers. The Mitchell family sold the Rutland newspaper along with The Times Argus in Barre last summer to Vermont Community Media Community.
The new owners are Reade Brower, principal owner of Maine Today Media, and Chip Harris, co-founder of Upper Valley Press in New Hampshire, which prints the Herald and The Times Argus.
Terms of the sale of the newspapers were not disclosed.
The auction will include 43 Center St., known locally at “The Pit,” and is the former location of the Berwick Hotel, which burned to the ground in 1973. Also, being sold at auction are properties, at 27 and 33 Wales St. Those properties contain the newsroom and current offices of the Rutland Herald.
In addition, 92 Willow St., which is the warehouse that formerly housed the newspaper’s printing operation, will be sold at auction.
The Rutland Herald moved into its Wales Street location in the mid-1930s. The building contains about 20,462 square feet of existing building on 0.82 acres with frontage of three city streets, according to the release issued Wednesday.
Vermont Community Media has been leasing space in the building for the operation of the Rutland Herald since the sale of the publication. However, in August, VCM announced that the newspaper will move to new offices at 77 Grove St. in November.
The pending departure of the building’s sole tenant and source of income, the Rutland Herald, precipitated the decision to auction the properties, according to President R. John Mitchell.
Nathan, who is conducting the auction, is the principal of Nathan Auction & Real Estate, Inc. based in Manchester.
The buildings and property are currently listed for sale for $895,000 with Coldwell Banker.
Most of the money from the sale would be used to pay for a $855,000 Small Business Association loan, according to an article by Herald reporter Susan Smallheer.
