The Boulder Daily Camera, the longest-operating business in downtown Boulder, will move from its home of 119 years as the newspaper’s red-brick properties sold Friday to a Los Angeles-based development and investment firm.
Karlin Real Estate purchased the two buildings off 11th and Pearl streets for $9 million, said Al Manzi, the Camera’s publisher.
As a result of the sale, the operations for the Camera and its sister publication, the Colorado Daily, will move to a 25,000-square-foot building at 5450 Western Ave. in east Boulder.
“We’ve got over 70,000 square feet in these two buildings and with all of the changes we’ve made in terms of staffing efficiencies and consolidation, it was simply wasteful and expensive to maintain two large downtown buildings to house 120 employees,” Manzi said.
Matthew Schwab, managing director for Karlin Real Estate, could not be immediately reached for comment.
In a prepared statement e-mailed to the Camera, Schwab and Karlin Real Estate officials said there are “many exciting possibilities” for the prominent downtown Boulder site.
“First and foremost, we are interested in creating a project that is meaningful to the city, the business community and, most importantly, the people of Boulder,” Schwab said in the statement.
The land and two buildings off 1048 Pearl St. mark Karlin Real Estate’s fourth purchase in Boulder.
Its entity Karlin Boulder LLC owns three buildings in Boulder: 4745 Walnut St., 1780 Conestoga St. and 5450 Western Ave. — the Camera’s new home.
The sale comes 21 months after the properties’ owners, E.W. Scripps and ap, also the owner of The Denver Post, put the sites up for sale.
The Camera has operated at the Pearl Street site since 1891.
