Michigan Chronicle New Headquarters Dedication

By Karen Hudson Samuels/Tell Us Detroit

DETROIT (Tell Us Det) - Prominent leaders from Detroit’s black business community were joined by Mayor Mike Duggan Tuesday morning to celebrate the dedication and groundbreaking of the Michigan Chronicle’s new headquarters in the heart of downtown.

The paper’s new home is on the top two floors of a three story building located in the historic business district known as Paradise Valley, once a mecca of entertainment and black owned businesses.

The move by the Michigan Chronicle from its current location on Ledyard Street, to 1452 Randolph, is of historic significance; the paper was founded in Paradise Valley by John Sengstacke.

In his opening remarks to kick off the dedication, Real Times Media CEO Hiram Jackson said it took courage for a black man to start a newspaper in 1936 with a mission to uplift the community. “In essence, we’re coming home to Paradise Valley for a new resurgence” said Jackson.

Real Times Media, the parent company of the Michigan Chronicle, operates in 20 cities around the country, it will also be located to the new corporate headquarters.

Mayor Mike Duggan congratulated the Michigan Chronicle in his remarks and also invoked the memory of the paper’s late publisher, Sam Logan. The Mayor said of Logan that he was “The heart of the Michigan Chronicle for most of my lifetime”.

With Logan’s passing in 2011, the Mayor said there was concern about the paper’s future. “If you look at what Hiram Jackson and his team at Real Times Media has done, building into a digital company that is national, with offices in six states, I am really pleased that this great institution is in such great hands”.

The transition to a new building is in keeping with the paper’s own transformation, “We are multimedia company, so much more than just putting out a newspaper” says Jackson.

Over the last two years Real Times media has created a greater online presence including its popular Digital daily. The new headquarters will have an in-house studio that will allow expansion of original video content that is posted across Real Times media properties.

As a new chapter begins, the Michigan Chronicle will be celebrating 80 years of publishing in 2016.