The former location of the Macon Telegraph building in downtown Macon is up for sale. The building is listed for 2.35 million dollars, and is located at 120 Broadway in Macon, GA.
The paper moved out of the 140-thousand square foot building about five years ago,
For Randall Savage this building harbors a lot of memories.
“Right here. I was right here. Right in this spot,” said Savage.
It was from a typewriter in this newsroom that he inked Pulitzer Prize winning work and earned his stripes in journalism.
“In this conference we had a meeting over there and they were talking about what we wanted to do,“ said Savage.
Many others did too.
The paper was established in 1826. From the 1960’s to 2011, it's journalists worked in the building on Broadway before moving to offices on Cherry Street and Mercer Village.
Realtor Art Barry says about two months ago the Telegraph's owner, McClatchy, put up a for sale sign.
“It's not a picked over property. It needs paint and paper. and a little love, but that's it. I haven’t seen one of those in a long time,” said Barry.
Barry says its holding one of the largest footprints in downtown Macon.
Josh Rogers, President and CEO of NewTown Macon says it could take time to find the best fit.
“Really there are a ton of options, from reusing the building for the purpose that the Telegraph was occupying it to a radically different concept such as a school or a lofts or even all the way to demolishing the building and reusing the site for a new mix used development from the ground up.”
Barry says in the short time it's been for sale... he's had a few calls.
“We've been talking to a number of companies that have a large number of people working for them. Upwards of 100 employees,” said Barry.
And until they move in, a bit of the old operation continues to roll on.
The Telegraph still assembles papers.
“We have activity seven nights a week and we have 24/7 security,” said Barry.
It's not the same as it used it to be, but the building's place in Macon's history lives on.