Kansas City Star Printing Plant, Kansas City

The Kansas City Star is a McClatchy newspaper. Published since 1880, the paper is the recipient of eight Pulitzer Prizes. The Walt Disney Company acquired Capital Cities/ABC in January, 1996. Disney sold the paper to Knight Ridder in May 1997. Knight Ridder's legacy is a massive $199 million, two-block long, glass-enclosed printing and distribution plant on the northeast side of the Star's landmark red brick headquarters at 1729 Grand Avenue. The plant began printing in June 2006. It took nearly four years to build, and is considered a major part of the effort to revitalize downtown Kansas City. The plant contains four 60 foot high presses. On June 4, 2006, the first edition of the Star came out from the new presses with a major redesign in the sections and the logo. The new paper design involved shrinking its broadsheet width from 15 to 12 inches and shrinking the length from 22 3/4 to 21 1/2 inches.