Minnesota Star Tribune to sell Minneapolis printing plant, lay off 125 workers

The Minnesota Star Tribune is closing its Minneapolis printing facility at the end of the year and shifting print production to Iowa, ending a 158-year run of locally printed newspapers.

About 125 employees will be laid off as part of the closure.

The cost-saving measure follows decades of declining print readership, leaving the Heritage plant on N. 1st Street operating at just 18% of full capacity.

A Gannett facility in Des Moines will print the paper seven days a week beginning Dec. 28. Star Tribune leadership says print subscribers will not see a disruption in service.

“Nothing about this is easy,” said Steve Grove, Star Tribune publisher and CEO. “But we’re not deserting print. We’re just changing how we produce that paper.”

Grove said the move will result in “several millions” in annual savings and will “help us preserve resources, invest in our digital transformation and continue delivering the high-quality journalism Minnesotans count on.”

Newspapers long depended on print advertising to pay for print production costs. As many of those dollars have shifted to digital, and readers increasingly find their news online, printing a newspaper has become unsustainable for many outlets.

“This is really a business decision,” Grove said. “We’re one of the last major newspapers in the country that owns its own printing facility.”

The Heritage plant, which opened nearly 40 years ago, will be sold.

Grove said tests at the Des Moines facility have shown “no change in quality.”

However, there will be earlier deadlines to ensure the paper still arrives on time. Deadlines will move to 5:15 p.m. on weekdays and 4:30 p.m. for Sunday’s paper. That will mean some late-breaking news and sports scores won’t make the next day’s paper, though they will publish right away on the Star Tribune’s website and mobile app.