New Name Chosen for Johnson City’s “Gannett Drive”

A street that was formed when a newspaper printing plant was built in Johnson City is about to be renamed.

Gannett Drive was created when a $50 million production facility was constructed on the site of a former Endicott Johnson Shoe Company factory south of CFJ Boulevard.

The plant, which opened in 2006, printed the Press & Sun-Bulletin and other newspapers before Gannett closed it in 2018. Nearly 100 people lost their jobs when the facility was shut down.

The site now is owned by the Binghamton University Foundation. Village officials in recent months have had discussions with university representatives about renaming Gannett Drive.

Mayor Martin Meaney on Thursday said the street is going to be renamed University Boulevard.

The mayor said Binghamton University also is preparing to rebrand the former printing plant building as well as the site is being turned into a battery research and development facility.

Meaney said the new street name is "fitting," noting the university "has invested a lot of money" in Johnson City.

The renaming won't have a big impact on other entities because the only business located on Gannett Drive is a Walmart store.

The mayor said the renaming measure will be on the agenda at next Tuesday's village board meeting.

This isn't the first renaming of a Gannett Drive in New York state. A street bearing that name in Westchester County was renamed after Gannett's Journal News was demolished more than a decade ago.

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Contact WNBF News reporter Bob Joseph: bob@wnbf.com. For breaking news and updates on developing stories, follow @BinghamtonNow on Twitter.