By Linda Collins
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

METROTECH — The MetroTech building that is currently home to JP Morgan/Chase, the National Grid and NY Life Insurance, will soon be home to the Community Newspaper Group, reportedly New York City’s largest group of neighborhood newspapers with 30 publications.

Forest City Ratner Companies (FCRC) announced Monday that the company, better known by its initials, CNG, has signed a lease for 18,000 square feet on the 10th floor at One MetroTech Center in Downtown Brooklyn.

Previously scattered in offices in Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx, CNG will move all of its 125 employees to the new headquarters.

The move by CNG, on the heels of the recent relocations to the same building by El Diario La Prensa, the city’s largest Spanish Language newspaper, and UniWorld, a leading multi-cultural ad agency, is transforming the complex into a media center, according to Bruce Ratner, chairman and CEO of FCRC.

The CNG — which includes the Bronx Times Reporter; TimesLedger Newspapers in Queens, publisher of 14 weeklies; and Courier-Life Publications, the city’s largest chain of weeklies — is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s company, News Corp., which also owns the New York Post and the Wall Street Journal.

CNG also produces a news-based web site, www.yournabe.com, that covers 152 neighborhoods in the three boroughs.

Said Ratner, “It is very gratifying that the Community Newspaper Group has chosen Downtown Brooklyn and MetroTech Center for its new headquarters. The neighborhood’s strong appeal to media companies is a testament to its benefits, including good value, easy access to public transportation and a thriving retail sector with lots of shopping and restaurants.�

CNG will move to its new home on Feb. 1, according to a spokesperson. It is taking space previously occupied by Forest City Ratner, which is moving to another location within the building.

Courier-Life Publications has been serving Brooklyn for nearly 60 years; the Bronx Times has served the borough for over 25 years; and the TimesLedger Group in Queens has won dozens of state and national awards for editorial excellence in the last year alone.

Les Goodstein, senior vice president at News Corp, said, “We’re looking forward to bringing our people together in a dynamic part of the city in a first rate building and office. Giving the papers the opportunity to work and collaborate with their peers from other publications will doubtless bring new creativity and synergies to the group as a whole, while allowing them to better serve the communities they report on.� The current tenant list at One MetroTech includes offices of the FDNY, CUNY, City of New York, JP Morgan/Chase, Uniworld, National Grid, NY Life insurance Co., Robert Half International, TC Electric, El Diario, All State Insurance Co., FCRC and now CNG.

Mary Ann Tighe, Tim Dempsey, Keith Caggiano and Evan Haskell, all of CBRE, represented the landlord, FCRC, in the negotiations.

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