Tribune Publishing will print newspapers in Chicago’s northwest suburbs in order to make way for Bally’s $1.7 billion casino redevelopment of the Freedom Center printing plant downtown.
Twenty Lake Holdings, a subsidiary of Tribune Publishing and Alden Global Capital, has struck a deal with Paddock Publications to purchase the 160,000-square-foot Paddock Printing Center at 1000 Albion Avenue in Schaumburg, the Daily Herald reported.
Bally’s will pay Tribune Publishing a series of cash payments at an undisclosed amount to vacate the Freedom Center printing plant at 777 West Chicago Avenue, where it currently operates and prints papers such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and others in addition to the Tribune.
Bally’s won a contest among a handful of other development pitches for the city’s first casino license, getting selected by the Lori Lightfoot administration to redevelop the site. The Freedom Center will be demolished, and Bally’s expects to start construction next year, targeting completion in 2026.
The parties involved in the Schaumburg deal have agreed to a long-term deal for Tribune Publishing to print and publish the Daily Herald, which is owned by Paddock Publications. Daily Herald production staff members will assume positions with Tribune Publishing as it takes over the facility, the outlet said.
Doug Ray, the Daily Herald’s publisher, CEO and board chairman, said the real estate sale was an opportunity to build cash and focus more on quality media content, marketing and other services.
The printing press facility sits on a 21-acre site along the Elgin-O’Hare Expressway. It opened in 2002. Schaumburg Mayor Tom Dailly supports the move.
“It just adds to Schaumburg being a place where all kinds of businesses want to come,” Dailly told the outlet. “It’s an absolutely fabulous location. … I like just driving along and saying, that’s where my paper gets printed.”
— Quinn Donoghue
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