After the big newspapers of Minneapolis were consolidated during the Depression, many of their offices were moved to the Daily Star building on Portland Avenue. Extensive renovations on the original 1919 structure were completed in 1940, and after World War II the facility was expanded. In 1949, the building housed the presses and offices of the Star and the Tribune. In the early 1980s an annex called the Freeman Building, was built and connected with a skyway across the street. In 1987, the newspaper opened a printing plant, called Heritage Center in the warehouse district. All the old presses were removed from the Star Tribune headquarters and five, new offset presses went to work printing all the paper’s daily editions. In 2014, the company announced that it would abandon home and take up residence in the Capella Tower to make way for U.S. Bank Stadium development. The following year, the last of the newspaper’s employees relocated and the old Star Tribune building fell to the wrecking ball. Six limestone medallions depicting major industries, were salvaged from the building’s facade and incorporated into Wells Fargo’s new downtown Minneapolis office buildings.
