The setting sun Dec. 13, 2023, illuminates the front entrance of the East Oregonian at 211 SE Byers Ave., Pendleton. The Community Action Program of East Central Oregon in Pendleton bought the building for $2.15 million and became its new owner effective Dec. 29.

PENDLETON — The East Oregonian building in Pendleton has a new owner effective Dec. 29.

The EO Media Group has agreed to sell the building at 211 SE Byers Ave. for $2.15 million to the Community Action Program of East Central Oregon. The 23,000-square-foot building has been the East Oregonian’s home since 1956.

The newspaper is the parent of several area publications and sister to the Hermiston Herald. The EO’s new home is a leased 2,800 square feet of office space at 1100 Southgate, Suite 6, in Pendleton. The newspaper will be working in a tad more than 12% of its present floor space.

The decision to sell was a long time coming, but was prompted when the company sold its massive printing press to the Union-Bulletin in Walla Walla, creating a gaping void that likely would never be filled with anything else as large or as heavy.

“We installed a new printing press in 2013, but when the pandemic hit in 2020, we were negotiating with Walla Walla to either have us print them, or have them print us,” said EO Media Group Vice President Kathryn Brown.

The Union-Bulletin bought the press and got the contract to print the EO publications.

“They could hire pressmen more easily because they are a bigger community than Pendleton,” Brown said.

Andrew Cutler, EO publisher and editor, said seeing the sprawling single-story building transfer to a new owner is bittersweet.

“From a business standpoint, we obviously don’t need 23,000 square feet any longer,” he said. “From a sentimental or from a strategic standpoint, the newspaper hasn’t had but just a couple of locations in town, and that’s one of them, so it’s kind of sad. From a business standpoint, it makes all the sense in the world.”

It’s a building that will have a good home. CAPECO offers myriad social programs that benefit many in the community.

“I’m absolutely ecstatic there’s somebody that’s going to come in and use the building to fulfill their mission,” said Cutler, who started work at the EO in 2019. “I think it’s a great location in Pendleton. I’m excited to see what they do with it moving forward.”

CAPECO CEO Paula Hall also is excited to be buying the building.

“This is going to be a great move for CAPECO,” Hall said. “We originally had started out looking for space to relocate our food distribution warehouse, because we’re in leased space.”

Hall said their offices are in the John Murray annex, “and it’s old, outdated and not a very useful space for us. So when Kathryn made the announcement (of putting the EO building on the market) at a Rotary luncheon, she piqued my curiosity.”

CAPECO Board President George Murdock, who was once publisher of the East Oregonian, knows every square inch of the building. He actively promoted the idea that CAPECO should buy it.

After all, the sale price of $2.15 million was about 10% of what a new building that would fit the nonprofit’s needs could cost, Murdock explained.

“It was the perfect space,” Hall said. “We will have to do some improvements in what used to be the press area to accommodate our food warehouse needs, such as freezer and cooler space, but we are absolutely excited to be down on the flats, closer to all of the amenities such as the courts, community counseling services and things like that. So I’m absolutely excited. It will also be a lot more user-friendly for our clients. We do a lot of classroom settings and offerings that will be more conducive.”

Hall said her organization offers services that are all client-centered.

“We’re a grassroots organization addressing poverty and things that drive poverty in our community,” Hall said. “So anything that is anti-poverty, we usually are involved in some form.”

Murdock noted CAPECO helps the community “with food assistance, rent, money management, weatherization, aging in place, and a host of other services.”

Hall was an eager potential buyer when she first toured the property as it offers potential that CAPECO was living without.

“I’m thinking about when you walk through the door, the security and being able to welcome people to the facility,” Hall said. “Right now we have a very small space and if you get more than three people in the waiting room, you’re crowded. And there are individual offices right off the lobby where we’re going to be able to see people instead of having them walk through the office building and around corners and downstairs and things like that.”

Hall said she was smitten by the conference room space in the EO building.

“The conference room can be split with divider walls, but when it’s opened up, it will accommodate all of our staff,” Hall said. “It will fit 50-60 people. Since the beginning of time, we have had to look for space outside of our organization, and our footprint, to hold staff meetings. We do a lot of classroom education and so forth and we’ve always had to pick up our things and transfer them to a different site. So, that’s one of the biggest things that we’re looking forward to.”