Gannett’s Gone: Busy Johnson City Street Renamed

Seven years after it shut down its massive printing plant, the "Gannett" name is being removed from the Johnson City street where it was located.

The village board last fall voted to rename Gannett Drive because the name no longer was relevant following the closure of the production facility.

Nearly 100 people had worked at the newspaper printing site when it was closed in June 2018.

The $50 million plant had been built on a former brownfield site. The project was supported with more than $6 million in state tax breaks. It operated for only 12 years before it was shut down in a cost-cutting move.

When Gannett closed the Johnson City site, it moved newspaper production to the Rochester area. The company later closed that plant and shifted the printing of its New York state newspapers to New Jersey.

The 97,000-square-foot building once was considered for a hemp production site but that plan was scrapped. The Binghamton University Foundation acquired the property in February 2021.

Johnson City Mayor Martin Meaney said the village board decided to change the name of Gannett Drive to University Boulevard. He said village officials had consulted with Binghamton University representatives about the move.

Meaney said the new name is "fitting" because the university is investing a substantial amount of money in redeveloping the former printing plant.

A "Gannett Drive" sign at the Pavilion Drive intersection was replaced with a green-and-white "University Boulevard" sign a few days ago.

Meaney said a larger sign at the CFJ Boulevard intersection will be replaced soon. He said that sign is in the process of being produced for the village.

Thousands of vehicles travel the short street every day. Most of them are heading to the Walmart store, which now has a new address of 2 University Boulevard.

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Contact WNBF News reporter Bob Joseph: bob@wnbf.com or call (607) 545-2250. For breaking news and updates on developing stories, follow @BinghamtonNow on Twitter.