The Springfield News-Sun announced plans on Friday to explore selling its downtown building. The company said it wants to stay as a tenant in the building it’s called home since 1929.

The newspaper currently uses about 25 percent of the more than 17,000-square-foot building at 202 N. Limestone St.

“We are working hard to remain fixed as a pillar of the Springfield downtown community, while turning over the stewardship of the building to an owner who can grow building occupancy and increase the vibrancy of the surrounding downtown area,” Cox Ohio Media Group Publisher Julia Wallace said. “Finding a new owner, while allowing the newspaper to remain as a tenant in the building, is more cost efficient for Cox, and a win-win situation for the community.”

In an employee meeting Friday, CMG Ohio leaders stressed that the possible sale of the building would not impact reporting or advertising jobs or the newspaper’s commitment to the community.

“I think the first reaction is that the newspaper may be preparing to leave Springfield. That is totally false. We will remain in Springfield, and hopefully in this very building, but as a tenant rather than an owner,” Springfield News-Sun Editor Ben McLaughlin told employees.

Over the past decade, the media industry has evolved, adopting a news model in which information is available to customers in print, online and through CMG Ohio’s radio and television stations.

The three-story News-Sun building also houses studios for WHIO-TV and WHIO News Talk Radio. The company plans to keep those in the building as well as News-Sun operations.

The asking price has not been determined, but the company has hired a commercial real estate agent to find a potential buyer.

Cox Media Group is the parent company of the News-Sun and includes WHIO-TV, a CBS affiliate, News Talk Radio, K99.1FM and 95.3 The Eagle.