The Wichita Eagle is leaving its big old building for a smaller new one – Poynter

Newspapers around the country have left their huge old buildings for smaller new ones for years now. On Monday, the Wichita Eagle officially joined that group.

Over the weekend, the Eagle moved from its old 181,000 square foot spot on East Douglas Avenue into the 24,000 square foot site in Wichita’s Old Town.

In 1980, the Eagle had 735 employees, Dan Voorhis reported. About 100 people will move to the new building. The old space will be torn down, starting Monday, and will eventually become the headquarters for the agricultural giant Cargill.

The move, Voorhis reported, is another step toward digital transformation. The Eagle sold its headquarters last year, a step many newspapers have taken as decreasing print revenues prompted them to cash in on real estate assets.

It’s true that the internet, changing reader habits and shifts in advertiser needs have prompted the industry to consolidate some operations and cut expenses.

But it’s also true that The Eagle and the industry in general are working hard to adapt. Newspapers are shifting from 20th-century businesses based on printing presses to nimble 21st-century digital companies.

Here’s a look at some other newspapers that left their old buildings:

Kristen Hare covers local news innovation for the Poynter Institute. Her work for Poynter has earned her a Mirror Award nomination. Hare, a graduate of the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism, spent 5 years as the Sunday features writer and an assistant editor at the St. Joseph (Missouri) News-Press, and five years as a staff writer covering race, immigration, the census and aging at the St. Louis Beacon. She also spent two years with the Peace Corps in Guyana, South America. Hare and her family live outside Tampa.