More than 50 years after moving from Downtown to Riverside, The Florida Times-Union is prepping to return to the urban core.
The city approved a permit Thursday for Dav-Lin Interior Contractors to renovate space at the Wells Fargo Center for the daily newspaper.
Dav-Lin will renovate 25,282 square feet of space at a job cost of $800,000, according to the permit application.
Wells Fargo is at 1 Independent Drive Downtown. The Times-Union will build-out on the second floor, overlooking the atrium.
Accounting and human resource offices are planned on the southwest corner of the floor, the newsroom on the southeast and advertising on the northeast.
The Times-Union reported in September it would relocate its news, advertising and accounting operations from 1 Riverside Ave., where it moved 52 years ago, to the second floor of the 35-story Wells Fargo Center during the first quarter.
The news site reported the move was expected to be completed during the first quarter this year.
The Morris family bought the paper and the property in 1982 and sold the newspaper in October 2017 to GateHouse Media. The Morrises continue to own the riverfront property.
In December, GateHouse Media applied for a certificate of use for the Wells Fargo Center space for the Times-Union.
CA Florida Holdings LLC, a GateHouse Media entity, is listed as the business owner.
According to information previously posted on Jacksonville.com, the newspaper’s roots began in 1864 when The Florida Union began publishing weekly from an Ocean Street office.
It merged in 1883 with The Florida Daily Times, which began in 1881, and the paper moved to southwest Bay and Laura streets.
In 1900, the Times-Union moved to the Astor Building at Bay and Hogan streets and in 1911 to southwest Pearl and Adams streets.
It moved to Riverside Avenue in 1967.