Storybook Ending? Old 'News and Review' Building To Reopen As Sacramento Library

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — It's a new headline for an old building in the city.

The Sacramento News and Review moved out. Now, a new owner — the Sacramento Public Library — is moving in.

Sacramento Public Library Director Peter Coyl showed off the massive space that is soon to be transformed from an old newsroom into the newest city library.

Staff is already using the building as a logistics hub to disperse books.

"We're really looking forward to having the construction begin," Coyl said.

The building has 18,000 square feet of space. Much of it will be renovated to meet the needs of a modern library and community center.

One area that won't be touched during the transformation is a wall display of old Sacramento News and Review front pages going back years. The library plans to keep the display up and intact.

Outside, the Sacramento News and Review signage is still up. The paper moved out during the pandemic when it switched to online-only publications.

The building's new chapter is one News and Review Publisher Jeff von Kaenel approves.

"I'm a big lover of libraries and the fact that our building that we put a lot of love into is now going to be a library is great," von Kaenel said.

Daniel Savala is executive director of the Del Paso Boulevard Partnership. He's been trying to revive the once-bustling corridor that now has empty lots and boarded up buildings. The new library will be a new civic amenity.

"It's people, it's bringing people to Del Paso Boulevard," Savala said. "It's not the whole answer. It's not the one thing that's going to change Del Paso Boulevard but it's part of it."

The newspaper may have moved out, but this building's story has not come to the end.

"I think it can serve as a library forever," Coyl said.

There is another tribute planned by the library to the Sacramento News and Review. Director Coyl says they will display a few old News and Review newspaper racks in the building, too.