MILWAUKEE The owner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is to sell its buildings and move to a new downtown location, the media organization announced Thursday. An article said corporate parent Gannett Co. in August will sell the Journal Sentinel's longtime downtown properties to an investors group led by developers Tony Janowiec and Joshua Jeffers, with the company moving its approximately 260 employees to the 330 Kilbourn office complex at 330 E. Kilbourn Ave. Buildings to be sold as part of the arrangement include the six-story 1924 Journal Sentinel building at 333 W. State St., the attached former home of the Milwaukee Sentinel, built in 1919, Major Goolsby's sports bar at 340 W. Kilbourn Ave., and a parking lot at 332 W. State St. The newspaper buildings were designated historic properties by the Milwaukee Common Council in April, which means changes to the buildings' exteriors would need to be approved by the city's Historic Preservation Commission. Neither Gannett nor the prospective buyers of the properties opposed that designation, the media outlet reported. The Journal Sentinel is expected to move its operations in the first half of next year, with the buyers redeveloping the site into a mix of uses, possibly to include offices, apartments, and retail purposes, the paper reported. The purchase price hasn't yet been announced. The paper reported it has been using less than 25% of the space available in the downtown buildings; operations required much less space after the paper shifted its press room to a West Milwaukee site in 2003, it said.
