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Feb. 17, 2001
The Cortez Journal will break ground next month on a new office and production facility south of Parque de Vida. The 24,000-square-foot building will be constructed on a two-acre lot at the southwest corner of Montezuma and Roger Smith avenues, just south of the skateboard park and north of Auto Zone. Southwest Contracting of Cortez has been chosen as the general contractor for the project, which is being designed by Harding-Ankarlo DesignALLIANCE, a Boulder firm specializing in newspaper plant design, with consultation on exterior aesthetics by R. M. Bell & Associates of Durango. "We wanted to spend as much of our design and construction budget locally as we could, while still taking advantage of the expertise of DesignAlliance," said Suzy Meyer, general manager. Meyer acknowledged that the staff had mixed feelings about moving from the paper’s long-time home on Main Street. "We took a good look at the feasibility of remodeling this building," she said, "and it just wasn’t possible. "We don’t have the space to take advantage of the printing technology available to us, and we believe that Journal subscribers and advertisers, as well as our commercial printing customers, deserve the print quality we’ll be able to give them with that new technology." The current Journal pressroom, for example, has a ceiling height of 8 feet, with just two inches of clearance above some of the existing press equipment, and — bound by the alley on the south and bedrock on the north — has no room to install additional press units. The Journal leases newsprint-storage space in another building, necessitating forklift trips across the post-office traffic on Beech Street. "This building was not constructed to house a production operation of this size," Meyer said. "We’ll do what we can to ensure that the Main Street space is filled with attractive retail businesses." The new building will be designed with easy access for customers, including on-street parking along Smith and handicapped parking in a paved lot to the west of the building. The floor plan includes 9,000 square feet of office space for news, advertising and business operations, facing Parque de Vida. The press line will extend along Smith Avenue, and will be visible to passersby. A conference room will be available for use by community groups during business and evening hours. The Cortez Journal publishes a tri-weekly morning newspaper, and is the parent company of the weekly Mancos Times. Numerous weekly newspapers and specialty publications are printed in its production facility. The Journal employs 41 people and approximately 10 casual workers, including middle-school and high-school students. |
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Copyright © 2001 the Cortez Journal.
All rights reserved. |
