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Artist rendering of The Advocate's new presses and production facility.
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June: A year later, work
at The Advocate production site is nearly complete
BY Roxanne Hare
Advocate Marketing Staff
The Advocate is now proudly displayed on the front and side of the new
production facility, being built at 10715 Rieger Road. The new building is about 90 percent complete. The biggest milestone that awaits
is the arrival and installation of the actual press equipment, which will begin this month. Electrical work is nearly complete, as well as roofing, air ducts and windows. Metal wall panels, air conditioning and sheet rock in the press hall are complete. Paving at the site will begin soon.
The Advocate broke ground on the new production facility on June 14, 2005. The facility will house a seven-tower, state-of-the-art offset
printing press, which will replace the 12-unit presses at The Advocate’s
current facility at 6700 Bluebonnet Boulevard. The Advocate is
expected to bring you a better, higher quality product by the end of
the year, when the facility should be up and running.
April: Construction at site of Advocate presses
at least halfway done
BY Roxanne Hare
Advocate Marketing Staff
Major work has been accomplished at the site of The Advocate’s new printing press, being built at 10715 Rieger Road. The slab for all three floors is complete, and the structural steel for the building is also complete. Electrical work is 75% complete, and the roofing is 85% complete. The air duct work is more than halfway finished, a generator has been installed and sheetrock is being installed in the press hall. The concrete block walls are 85% complete, and the window system is more than halfway done.
February: The Advocate is building its way to a new era.
BY Roxanne Hare
Advocate Marketing Staff
Although still obviously a construction site, The Advocate’s new printing press, being built at 10715 Reiger Road, is beginning to look more and more like a building. Half of the slab for the first floor is done, 75% of the slab for the second floor is done and 85% of the slab for the third floor is done. The structural steel for the building is 85% complete, and work on the concrete tilt-up panels is almost complete. Work on the metal panels on the press hall is halfway done, and the roof on the press hall is 85% complete. It’s not quite time to say, “Roll the presses!” but it’s getting closer.
January: The Advocate is making strides at new presses site.
BY Roxanne Hare
Advocate Marketing Staff
Each month brings more and more changes at the site of The Advocate’s new production facility at 10715 Reiger Road, near Siegen Lane. Last month the biggest change was the erection of the first concrete wall panels. Now, half of those panels have been put up. Also, 35% of the structural steel for the building has been built, and 95% of the site’s utilities – including water, sewer and electrical – have been completed. The concrete press table, which will actually support the presses, is complete.
December: The Advocate’s new production facility is moving on up! BY Roxanne HareAdvocate Marketing StaffDrivers traveling along Interstate 10 near Seigen Lane may have noticed a big change lately. Concrete wall panels have been erected at the site of The Advocate’s new printing press facility at 10715 Reiger Road. While that may be the most noticeable sign of construction progress, workers are also making strides in other areas. Water and sewer work is nearly complete. Electrical work is about 25 percent complete. Concrete floor slabs have been poured for 32 percent of the facility. And structural steel erection for the building frame recently began.
October/November: Construction has come a long way at The Advocate’s new production facility
BY Roxanne Hare
Advocate Marketing Staff
Great strides have been made in the construction of The Advocate’s new production facility, being built at 10715 Reiger Road near Seigen Lane. Water, sewer and electrical work began in October. About 80% of the building’s foundation is complete, as well as a portion of the newsprint storage area. Concrete pilings for the press matt have been completed, and passersby can see the vertical steel columns that will actually support the press table and presses.
September: Construction
progresses at The Advocate's new production facility
BY Roxanne Hare
Advocate Marketing Staff
Despite the delays from Hurricane Katrina, progress has been made at the site of The Advocate's new production facility, being built at 10715 Reiger Road. After breaking ground on the new printing press facility on June 14, The Advocate has made strides. The concrete pilings for the press mat have been completed. Also, timber pilings have been driven for the foundation of the building, and work on pouring concrete for that foundation has begun. Storm drainage work is 65% complete. Water, sewer and electrical utility work is slated to begin soon. Construction officials anticipate the erection of the building to begin early to mid-November.
July: Construction begins on The Advocate’s new production facility
BY Roxanne Hare
Advocate Marketing Staff
After breaking ground on a new printing press facility on June 14, The Advocate is seeing progress at the site at 10715 Reiger Road. Construction on concrete pilings, which will support the presses, is under way, as well as construction on timber pilings, which will support the building. Work on the building pad and grading at the site is also being done now. Access roads are being put in, drainage piping is being installed and retention ponds are being dug out and shaped.
The seven-tower, state-of-the-art offset printing press will replace the 12-unit presses at The Advocate’s current facility at 6700 Bluebonnet Boulevard. Delivery of the presses is expected in the spring of 2006. Production at the new facility is slated to begin in the fall of 2006.
June 15: Ground broken for press plant -- New site will print Advocate
The Baton Rouge Advocate
Capital City Press, the publisher of The Advocate, broke ground Tuesday on a $60 million printing facility off of Siegen Lane, which will improve the readability of the paper, the sharpness of photos and allow for more zoned editions targeted to specific areas.
"This is truly a milestone in the history of Capital City Press," President and Chief Executive Officer Richard Manship said. "The new facility will be a quantum leap in printing, putting together and distribution of the newspaper."
The 120,000-square-foot plant, which will open in August-September 2006, will be at 10715 Reiger Road, between Interstate 10 and the Super Target store. The project is being financed through a revolving line of credit with JP Morgan Chase/Bank One.
"This will be one of the finest printing facilities in the world, with one of the finest presses in the world," said Douglas Manship Jr., publisher of The Advocate.
He said the new seven-tower press, made by MAN Roland of Germany, will allow the newspaper to print three times faster and with more color. The increased speed means subscribers will get The Advocate earlier.
"You've got people that go to work at 6 a.m.," he said. "If they don't get the paper before they go to work, you're going to lose that reader."
The press also will give the newspaper more flexibility to zone editions, for example, it already produces editions targeted specifically to Ascension Parish and the Acadiana area.
The Advocate is printed on two, 12-unit 1950s-era letterpresses at a plant on Bluebonnet Boulevard, across from the Mall of Louisiana. The Bluebonnet plant cannot accomodate a new press.
The new press will take The Advocate from a 55-inch web to a 48-inch web, which means pages will decrease slightly in overall size. This is in line with other newspapers, which have moved over the past several years to the 50-inch web that has become a standard to which advertisers are accustomed.
The smaller Advocate will allow Capital City Press to reduce costs on paper, ink and other supplies.
Despite the new size of the newspaper, Douglas Manship Jr. said the change will not affect the quality of news and information published. He also said the recent redesign of the newspaper to a cleaner, more-modern look was done with the new press and 50-inch web size in mind and that few design changes will be required.
The new press is set to arrive in Baton Rouge on April 23.
For about four months, both presses will operate during a transition period, with some sections being printed on the new press, some on the old.
Along with the new printing facility, The Advocate's administrative, editorial, classifed, advertising and supporting departments are moving from downtown to 7290 Bluebonnet Blvd. in phases, beginning Sept. 9. The offices will be in a 152,000-square-foot building being leased from the Rev. Jimmy Swaggart's Family Worship Center Church Inc.
Douglas Manship Jr. said there are no plans to sell The Advocate building or the property at 525 Lafayette St.
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Douglas L. Manship, Jr. interview from Sunday Journal 
