Miami Herald may move editorial offices to Bertram site on the Miami River

By ELAINE WALKER The Miami Herald

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By ELAINE WALKER

ewalker@MiamiHerald.com

The Bertram Yacht headquarters on a tributary of the Miami River is the leading site to be The Miami Herald’s new home, according to real estate sources familiar with the deal.

 

The Miami Herald is in the final stages of negotiating a letter of intent to lease the property, including a new build-to-suit headquarters, sources said.

 

The search for a new home for the newspaper began after the existing 13.9 acre site was sold in May for $236 million to the Genting Group, which has plans for a $3 billion destination resort with a casino. The Herald has the right to remain at its current located rent-free until May 2013.

 

The Miami Herald has considered locating offices and a printing facility together in a single location or at two different sites.

 

The Bertram site is expected to include both operations and all of the company’s 700 employees.

 

Miami Herald Publisher David Landsberg would not discuss the company’s plans on Tuesday.

 

The Bertram site is a 15.54-acre industrial parcel that fronts on North Douglas Road and covers most of the block stretching between Northwest 21st Street and Northwest 22nd Street. It is not clear whether the Herald would be taking the entire property, which is also currently being used for the filming of the Magic City television series.

 

The Herald has been a landmark on Biscayne Bay since March 1963, when newsprint was delivered by barge. Those bayside deliveries stopped decades ago.

 

Bertram, maker of famed sport-fishing boats and now owned by the Feretti Group, announced more than two years ago that it might move its corporate headquarters and manufacturing plant. The site sits one mile east of Miami International Airport.