McClatchy’s Video Lab West to officially call Sacramento home
City of Sacramento officially announces the completion of the lease transaction with McClatchy to occupy 9,995 square feet of office space at the Sacramento Valley Station. McClatchy’s Video Lab West will be the first tenant to lease office space at the historic station.
As part of the City’s commitment to innovation and the creative economy, the nearly10,000 square-foot digital video facility and incubator space will explore the bounds of virtual and augmented reality with leading technology partners and test how people will consume video on ever-changing platforms. The content developed by Video Lab West will be distributed across hundreds of other sites nationwide and across social media channels such as Facebook and YouTube.
“This is the type of high-profile, cutting-edge tenant our City wants in the Sacramento Valley Station,” said Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg. “It’s fitting that McClatchy, founded during Sacramento’s railroad innovation boom, is now leading a new creative edge as the first tenant in the Sacramento Valley Station. I’m confident their work will revolutionize the future of news media, and help connect people to stories in new and meaningful ways.”
McClatchy, owners of the local newspaper Sacramento Bee, is focused on growing its online content as they shift from a traditional print medium to the quickly changing digital world.
“McClatchy has been an innovative media company in Sacramento for 160 years,” said Craig Forman President and CEO of McClatchy. “Exploring new formats and platforms for delivering high-quality storytelling in such a unique and collaborative environment as Video Lab West is truly exciting.”
McClatchy launched the Video Lab in 2014 in their Washington D.C. bureau to create digital video content for approximately 30 of their daily newspaper websites. McClatchy will expand their Washington DC Video Lab operation to create Video Lab West at the Sacramento Valley Station.
“The renovation of the Sacramento Valley Station is a tremendous project that has greatly enhanced our community,” said Councilmember Jeff Harris. “I am grateful the McClatchy Company and their partners have chosen this site for their innovative video lab. The juxtaposition of early railroad technology and the cutting-edge technology being deployed demonstrates our City’s founding and its future.”
Earlier this year the City celebrated the grand re-opening of the Sacramento Valley Station. The 68,000 square-foot building underwent a complete facelift including the addition of 25,000 square feet of mixed-use leasable space. The new, old station improves the experience for rail and transit users and restores treasured features of the building.
The City recently embarked on the initial phase of a master plan for the Sacramento Valley Station and hosted pop-up community workshops throughout the summer of 2017. The goal of the site master plan is to define two initial options for an expanded regional transportation hub.
The site will integrate transit-oriented development and catalyze a sustainable downtown Sacramento community. The two options will be presented at a public meeting in October.