Real estate developer Ticon Properties is converting the former home of “The Herald-Sun” newspaper in Durham, N.C., into a mixed-use project that will include self-storage as well as office and retail space. The printing-press and warehouse space at 2828 Pickett Road will be redeveloped into 70,000 square feet of self-storage, whereas the two floors that comprised administrative offices and the newsroom will become 60,000 square feet of office space. The loading docks will be transformed into 10,000 square feet of retail. The project is expected to be complete next year, according to the source.

“Where they actually made the paper and ink ... that is what is going to be converted into storage units,” Brent Powell, the broker in charge of leasing the building for Ticon, told the source. “The front part of the warehouse, where the loading docks were, [Ticon] is turning that into retail. They are taking the garage doors out and putting storefront glass in.”

Brassfield Self Storage, which operates four facilities in Durham, including a converted Pepsi building also owned by Ticon, will manage the Pickett Road storage operation. Though no tenants have been signed to occupy the non-storage space, Powell indicated he envisions accountants, attorneys or other professionals occupying the offices, while the retail area could attract a mattress store.

Ticon acquired the Herald-Sun building last July for $3.25 million from Paxton Media Group, which used to own the newspaper. The media operation moved into the building in 1990 before relocating in 2015 to an office building near Northgate Mall, the source reported.

Based in Durham and founded in 1972, Ticon specializes in the development and management of commercial and residential properties. The company focuses primarily on apartment and office real estate and owns 96 percent of its operating portfolio, according to its website.

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