Gannett is moving out of their Tysons, Virginia headquarters office space. The newspaper publisher had been operating out of the suburban Virginia office park since 2001. Furthermore, USA TODAY’s newsroom has been shuttered. The Gannett newspaper will retain some office in Washington, DC. However, corporate staff and journalists are shifting to a remote work from home model.
USA TODAY visual editor Alexa Julianaard posted on Instagram that they thought it was great that USA TODAY is “embracing remote work.” Julianaard’s Instagram post also offered one of the last tours of the newspaper’s newsroom and cafeteria. Furthermore, the editor remarked that it was “bittersweet to see the office so empty.”
Newsroom Closures
USA TODAY is not the first newspaper to close its newsroom. In fact, Tribune closed the Hartford Courant’s newsroom in December 2020. To be clear, the Courant’s publisher told employees it held no plans to find new offices. The Courant’s publisher and editor-in-chief remarked that the closing of the physical newsroom was “a decision about real estate needs amid a difficult and challenging time on both the public health and economic fronts.”
Tribune also shut down the newsrooms of The New York Daily News; The Morning Call in Allentown, PA; The Orlando Sentinel; The Carroll County Times in Westminster, MD and The Capital Gazette in Annapolis, PA. Daily News journalists operate from a temporary office, a co-working space, in New York City.
Many newspaper office spaces were built for larger staffs. A walk through a newspaper company’s offices eventually conjured up the proverbial ghost town. Gannett’s Tysons headquarters once two office towers on a 25 acre property. Eventually, the newspaper publisher sold the entire headquarters for $270 million and leased parts of two floors, with plenty of room to spare. That’s due to outsourcing, staff reductions and reconfiguring to open floor plans. Communication tools like Zoom, Slack and Teams make it easier to collaborate remotely.
Other major papers have moved to a remote work model. The Wall Street Journal described the El Segundo, California offices of The Los Angeles Times as “sparsely populated.” Apparently the Times staff is mostly remote and those who do come in are required to wear a mask, according to the Journal.
Former Gannett/USA TODAY Office Space for Lease
CBRE is promoting the 83,651 square feet second floor space as a “sublease opportunity.” According to CBRE, recent property enhancements include:
- New central lobby restaurant and lounge
- Modernized auditorim facade and break out lounge
- Improved market cafe and sundries shop
- Activated outdoor spaces
Building History
In April 1997, Gannett retained Hines as development manager for its new headquarters facility in the Tysons Corner area of Fairfax County, Virginia. The new facility housed the corporate office of Gannett; editorial, administrative and production facilities for USA TODAY, USA WEEKEND, BASEBALL WEEKLY and Gannett News Service; various amenity facilities; and a redundant technology infrastructure.
After opening in 2001, the building won multiple awards, including the 2001 Washington Business Journal Commercial Real Estate Award. That award was for suburban office development.
