Charlottesville Newsplex, the TV station that operates CBS 19, ABC 16 and Fox 27, is pushing back the timeline for moving operations to 2307 Hydraulic Rd., but General Manager Brad Ramsey, who took the reins in July, says that the project is sill moving forward.
“We’re considering all of our options, I guess is the best way to put it,” says Ramsey. “We still own the land and the building and still plan to build there.”
However, it is looking like the Newsplex may extend its current lease at the Ix Building, which is up next summer. “At this point, I don’t think it would be realistic to have a building constructed and be moved in next year.” Ramsey says that the company is absolutely not selling the property.
 The Charlottesville Newsplex will likely stay in the Ix Building through 2009. |
Gray Television, the Atlanta-based company that owns the Newsplex, bought the two-acre property in 2007 for $2.3 million. At the time, then-GM Roger Burchett said the timeline was to build a new 18,500-square-foot facility and occupy it by early 2009.
“We just grew a lot faster than we thought we were going to and that’s a good thing,” Burchett told C-VILLE in May 2007.
Like many in the media industry, Gray has seen revenue stagnate and slightly decline. The publicly traded company’s latest financial report showed revenue down 1 percent during the second quarter compared to the same quarter in 2007. Over the past year, Gray’s stock price has dropped to $2.40 from $9.
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