By Andrew Coen
The new home of Richner Communications Inc., which produces 26 publications, including the Nassau Herald, The Jewish Star and the PrimeTime Guides, will be a facility now under construction at 2 Endo Blvd. in Garden City, next to Nassau Community College.
Officials at the company, which has more than 100 employees, anticipate moving from the Heralds' temporary headquarters in West Hempstead to the new location sometime in the fall.
According to Michael Bologna, Richner's vice president of operations, the Garden City location will contain one of the largest newspaper printing facilities on Long Island as well as first-class office space. "The fact that we'll be in a bigger facility that is specifically designed for our company will make it easier for us to continue to grow," said Bologna.
The Lawrence facility had been home to the Nassau Herald and Rockaway Journal since 1927. The Journal had relocated from Far Rockaway.
Anniversary of a disaster
On June 15, 2004, a fast-moving fire gutted the company's decades-old facility at 379 Central Ave. in Lawrence. The blaze, according to fire officials, started in the rear of the company's press room in mid-afternoon and quickly spread through the rest of the building, forcing employees to evacuate to the street. The fire, which was battled by more than 150 firefighters from several departments on the South Shore, destroyed press and production equipment as well as most of the company's office furnishings, computer equipment and its century-old newspaper and photo archives.
The fire was ruled an accident by fire officials.
The company managed to relocate the next morning to a warehouse on Orlando Avenue in West Hempstead and, despite the disruption, published papers that same week.
"After a traumatic year, we're busy looking ahead," said Cliff Richner, the Heralds' co-publisher. "While the loss of the Lawrence building was certainly a setback, the fact that the staff has come through - and even gotten better - is what has allowed us to accomplish as much as we have in the last year."
"Everybody really kept it together and kept the company afloat," said Bologna.
Working without interruption
Setting up shop in the former Natural Science Industries warehouse in the Lakeview section of West Hempstead, Richner Communications continued to publish newspapers and shoppers' guides in the weeks following the fire - despite the possibility that the facility, at 910 Orlando Ave., could have been sold at any point to a developer, forcing the company to find another temporary home. The uncertainty of the Heralds' West Hempstead operation increased the pressure to plan and build the Garden City facility, according to Richner. "We were under tremendous pressure to finish plans for the new building," he said.
The company was forced to operate without a printing press on-site, and as a result had to produce its own weekly publications as well as hundreds of commercial print jobs at different locations. "It has been a major inconvenience," said Richner.
According to Lou Corradino, who coordinates the printing of the papers, during the past year the company printed at sites from Long Island City to as far away as Pennsylvania. "It was a very hectic time," said Corradino. "We didn't always have the control we're accustomed to."
In addition to maintaining the temporary offices and finalizing plans for the new building, company officials also needed to make frequent trips to the site of the fire in Lawrence to try to recover damaged records. "We basically had three different sites to worry about," said Richner.
For the first week after the fire, the advertising department operated out of the Lynbrook home of Rhonda Glickman, Richner Communications' vice president of sales, with no supplies or files, which were destroyed in the fire. "I think the staff was really unbelievable with how they pulled through," said Glickman.
"For the first couple months after the fire, things were tough, since we didn't have computers for everybody and it was really challenging to work under these conditions, but since then we've settled in and it's business as usual," said Nick Buglione, editor of the East Meadow Herald.
The new Herald facility
The future home of Richner Communications, in the middle of Nassau County between the north and south shores, has been used in the past as a self-storage warehouse, and part of the facility will continue to be used for storage, according to Richner.
The building now under construction will contain new high-speed color presses utilizing cutting-edge computer-to-plate printing technology. The company will also use state-of-the-art production and mailing methods, including high-speed inserting and ink-jet mailing. A 30-foot-high wall of glass will provide passersby with glimpses of the printing operations within, while the editorial staff, occupying offices on the second floor, will have expansive views of the area designated by Nassau County as the Hub, including Nassau Community College, the EAB Plaza and Hofstra University.
The facility will have indoor as well as outdoor parking.
Corradino is excited about the printing capabilities of the new facility, where it will be possible to create more color in the papers and to print them at greater speeds. "The quality will be much, much higher," he said.
Company officials also plan to team up with the Long Island Power Authority to use alternative forms of energy to operate the building. "We're trying to make it as environmentally friendly as possible," said Richner.
"I think the new building is one of the most exciting things to happen in my nearly 20 years in the newspaper business," said Glickman. "It's centrally located and is going to enable us to grow."
Plans to expand
Richner said he would like to see the company expand soon to include Heralds and PrimeTimes throughout Nassau County. The new building is being built with few walls, with most rooms designed to be modular to allow for future expansion. "I hope someday to see a Herald and PrimeTime in every community in Nassau County," said Richner.
Currently, the 26 Herald Community Newspapers cover South Shore communities as far west as the Five Towns and as far east as East Meadow. In addition to the Nassau Herald and the Rockaway Journal, which has been published for over 100 years, Richner Communications also produces niche publications like the Jewish Star, community almanacs, Menu Guides, Senior Resource Guides and PrimeTime Guides.
Comments about this story? ACoen@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 210.
