SAN DIEGO — It’s the end of an era for the San Diego Union-Tribune in Downtown San Diego.
San Diego County’s sole daily paper had its moniker taken off the building at 6th and B Street, officially removing the Union-Tribune’s presence from Downtown San Diego’s skyline.
2016
The San Diego Union-Tribune left its Mission Valley office and returned to Downtown San Diego in 2016.
In December 2023, CBS 8 first reported on the daily paper’s legal troubles that centered on more than $560,000 in unpaid rent. According to eviction papers filed in California state court obtained by CBS 8 in January, the San Diego Union-Tribune suddenly stopped making rent payments in September 2023.
The paper stopped making monthly rent payments one month after billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong sold the San Diego paper to New York-based Alden Global Capital and its subsidiary MediaNews Group in July 2023.
According to new court documents obtained by CBS 8 that were filed in February, San Diego Union-Tribune’s landlord, 600 B Street Owner LLC, is seeking $11.6 million in damages.
“As a direct, proximate and legal result of Tenant’s breach of the Lease, Plaintiff has suffered and will suffer actual, compensatory, incidental and consequential damages in an amount of no less than $11,600,000, plus interest due under the Lease,” the court filing reads.
Eviction battle
The San Diego Union-Tribune’s legal fight with its landlord dates back to 2023.
In 2023, just weeks after Alden Capital assumed control of the paper, its landlord, 600 B Street Owner LLC, said the paper made its August rent payment of $105,281 but they have not received another payment since.
CBS 8 first reported on eviction papers that the building owner filed on December 8, 2023.
Court documents filed in January claimed the paper still wasn’t paying rent and refused to hand over the keys to the landlord.
The back-and-forth underscores the ever-transforming landscape for newspapers across the country, including the Union-Tribune and its former sister-paper, the Los Angeles Times.
A January 18 article in the New York Times, highlighted those issues in its coverage of three billionaires who purchased newspapers across the country in hopes of increasing revenue amid dwindling readership.
Among the owners the Times mentioned was the former San Diego Union-Tribune owner, Patrick Soon-Shiong.
According to the Times, the paper was reportedly on track to lose between $30 and $40 million in 2023. Representatives from the LA Times admitted that the company faced “a significant gap between revenue and expenses."
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