By Frank Cho
Advertiser Staff Writer
The Honolulu Advertiser today announced it will build a $70 million printing and distribution facility in Kapolei.
The announcement comes a week before The Advertiser and its afternoon rival, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, are scheduled to end their 33-year joint operating agreement in which they shared production and distribution facilities.
 The fee-simple purchase of the 11.6 acres of land, owned by the Campbell Estate, is expected to close later this year. Construction on the 160,000-square-foot facility will begin after permit approvals are received. Completion is scheduled for 2004.
“This gives us the ability to build one of the most technologically advanced printing facilities in the country,” Advertiser Publisher and President Mike Fisch said today. “In the end it really is an investment to improve the newspaper for the reader and the advertiser.”
The move will affect about 400 Advertiser employees who will move to the new facility, Fisch said. The Advertiser’s business and editorial operations will remain at 605 Kapiolani Boulevard, the site of the newspaper since 1929.
In addition to the construction of the new printing plant, Fisch said The Advertiser will spend several million dollars renovating its downtown headquarters and several more million to upgrade technology.
Gannett Pacific Corp., The Advertiser’s parent company, will invest about $29.5 million for construction and area improvements. The presses are projected to cost about $40.6 million, Fisch said.
The Advertiser has been in a joint operating agreement with the Star-Bulletin since 1962. As part of that agreement, the Star-Bulletin printed its newspaper on The Advertiser-owned presses.
But those presses are more than 30 years old and in need of replacement, Fisch said. Plans were already under way to replace the presses when the Star-Bulletin announced its closure and a court-ordered injunction delayed the announcement.
Fisch said he is not sure yet what will happen to the newspaper’s current presses. He also said it has not yet been determined what will be done with the additional space.
“Gannett’s plans for a high-tech publishing facility brings synergy to all the other technology projects at Kapolei,” said Steve MacMillan, Campbell estate chief executive officer.
Frank Cho can be reached by phone at 525-8088, or by e-mail at fcho@honoluluadvertiser.com.
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