Tribune Publishing affiliate to buy Daily Herald's Paddock Printing Center in Schaumburg
Paddock Publications, the publisher of the Daily Herald, has reached an agreement with an affiliate of Tribune Publishing for the sale of the 20-year-old Paddock Printing Center in Schaumburg, company officials said Wednesday.
Twenty Lake Holdings, which will be the new owner of the 160,000-square-foot facility on 21 acres along the Elgin-O'Hare Expressway, is a fellow affiliate of Alden Global Capital along with Tribune Publishing.
Both parties to the sale also have agreed to a long-term contract for Tribune Publishing to print and distribute the Daily Herald.
Existing Daily Herald production staff members will be offered positions with Tribune Publishing as it takes over management of the facility.
Earlier this month, the Tribune's current printing plant along the Chicago River - The Freedom Center - was itself sold to make way for a Bally's Casino and entertainment district.
The Freedom Center will be demolished. The casino is expected to break ground next year and open in 2026.
Doug Ray, the Daily Herald's publisher, CEO and board chairman, described the sale as a special business opportunity to build cash and focus on quality content, marketing, specialty products and services, and the newspaper itself.
"Because of our diversification strategy, Paddock is among the few newspaper-based companies dealing successfully with the industry's digital transformation," Ray said in a statement.
"After studying the overall industry secular trends and various options, the Paddock board of directors is confident the sale best positions the company for the future," he said. "While the Daily Herald has turned over its printing operation to Tribune, we remain committed to producing the highest quality community newspaper in the United States, focusing on local news and information and impactful journalism. This sale allows us to invest in content in all of our products and the marketing needs of advertisers and service to our subscribers."
Schaumburg Mayor Tom Dailly said the sale sounds like a positive development for all concerned, including the village.
"It just adds to Schaumburg being a place where all kinds of businesses want to come," he said. "It's an absolutely fabulous location. ... I like just driving along and saying, that's where my paper gets printed."
The Paddock Printing Center at 1000 Albion Ave. opened in December 2002 using technology that was the first of its kind in North America. In addition to the Daily Herald itself, it also currently prints 56 other titles for various daily, weekly and monthly commercial printing customers.
At the time of its construction, company officials also touted its capacity for expansion. It replaced an 80,000-square-foot facility that had reached its own capacity on a 4-acre site on Northwest Highway in Arlington Heights.