Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to sell historic buildings, move office

MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel will move to a new location early next year as its historic downtown buildings are set to be sold to local developers, the newspaper announced Thursday.

The Journal Sentinel’s new offices will be located at 330 E. Kilbourn Ave., just a few blocks from its current location. Following the sale, the buildings will be renovated and converted into a new mixed-use space that could include offices, apartments and street-level retail.

milwaukee journal sentinel buildings
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel buildings are to be sold in August, with the company moving to another downtown location in early 2020. (Photo by Mike DeSisti, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

In March, historic designations were approved for the six-story Journal Sentinel building, 333 W. State St., and the attached four-story building that once housed the Milwaukee Sentinel. The pending sale, which is scheduled for late August, includes those two buildings as well as Major Goolsby’s sports bar, 340 W. Kilbourn Ave., and a parking lot at 332 W. State St.

With the former Sentinel building vacant and the newspaper’s press operations having shifted to West Milwaukee in 2003, Journal Sentinel staff only uses about 25% of its current available space. Andy Fisher, the Journal Sentinel’s top business executive, called the new location a “more modern facility” that will “have a really fresh feel.”

The main building, which dates to 1924 and features an art deco style, was constructed to house The Milwaukee Journal. The attached building, constructed in 1919, became home to the Sentinel after it was purchased in 1962 by the Journal.

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Wisconsin Newspaper Association