Cox Enterprises donates former AJC building to city

Cox Enterprises is donating The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s former downtown headquarters to the city of Atlanta, the city and company will announce Tuesday.

The donation includes the 72 Marietta Street office building as well as the newspaper’s former printing press building behind it. Cox estimates the nearly 6-acre parcel downtown is worth about $50 million.

Mayor Kasim Reed called it an “ideal location” to consolidate the city’s office space in the wake of the sale of City Hall East. Reed plans to put police and fire training academies in the buildings, use the auditorium for public meetings, create a gallery space that formerly was at City Hall East, and use warehouse and parking space. He and the company are scheduled to make the announcement at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

“We’re thrilled to accept this generous gift from Cox Enterprises,” the mayor said. “The former AJC property occupies a unique location in the heart of downtown Atlanta, near City Hall, Centennial Olympic Park, and the proposed multi-modal passenger terminal.”

The building will save the city money by reducing what it spends on leases, he said.

The city expects the first year’s cost in the AJC building to be about $1.5 million, about half what the city spends leasing offices and properties around Atlanta, said Sonji Jacobs Dade, Reed’s spokeswoman. Over time, the city intends to fill the more than 400,000 square feet.

The city will have some retro-fitting and cosmetic improvement costs before city workers start moving in the spring, she said.

Jim Kennedy, chairman of Cox Enterprises, said the donation represents a continuation of the company’s long relationship with the city. “Through our local media properties, the history of metro Atlanta and Cox Enterprises are inextricably linked,” Kennedy said in a statement. “For almost 150 years, our companies have covered the events that helped shape our city, from Reconstruction through the Civil Rights era and beyond, and we will continue to do so.”

The AJC had occupied the building since 1972. The donation includes the nine-story office building on Marietta and the four-story printing press building between Fairlie and Spring streets, plus warehouse space and surface parking. The site is near the proposed transit hub in downtown Atlanta.

Cox Enterprises never listed the building for sale. In 2009, when the newspaper announced plans to move, city representatives called to inquire about the future of the downtown offices. The call set discussions in motion, which ultimately led to the donation, said Dale Hughes, senior vice president for legal affairs and strategic investments.

“We looked at a broad landscape of possibilities, and we always came back to the city,” Hughes said. “They had a need, and we had a solution. It’s been a great partnership and a way for Cox to invest in the growth of the city.”

The newspaper consolidated its print production to a facility in Gwinnett County in 2008, ending the need to continue printing at its downtown plant. And with workforce reductions the newspaper was occupying less than 30 percent of the complex.

In April, the AJC moved to a six-story office building in Dunwoody, near Cox Enterprises headquarters. Other subsidiaries are also nearby, including cable division Cox Communications, auto auction division Manheim, and AutoTrader.com.