Par to Staff — "We," "Our," "Us."

Strib Publisher Par Ridder confirmed the four-out-of-a-possible-five block real estate sale to the Vikings with the following memo.

Do note all the fraternally united, brothers-in-arms “team” verbiage; “we,” “our,” “us.”

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Our real estate deal with the Vikings

by Par Ridder, Publisher and CEO

June 20, 2007 –

“It’s official. We have a signed deal with the Vikings to buy all our property around the Metrodome – except the 425 Portland building. This is obviously a very big deal for us, with considerable upside. But it will also require us to make some adjustments over the next couple of years. The money we receive from the sale will go to pay down debt and improve our overall financial health. This is a considerable benefit.

“But the sale means we will need to move all the employees who are now in the Freeman building into the Portland building. We have hired a space-planning firm to help us figure out how to do this. We’re sure we have enough space in Portland for everyone, provided we efficiently redesign the space. This will take some time – maybe up to 12 months for some. But this is something we would have done even if the Vikings had not bought the Freeman building because it is so much more economical to operate in one building instead of two.”

The note goes on to mention that the company parking lots, where Strib employees can park for something like $45 a month, (or $50 to $70 less than normal monthly downtown rates on the east end), will be rented from the Vikings until the end of 2008 … but Par doesn’t say anything about how much that rent might be, or what “we” (Strib working stiffs) might soon be shelling out to the Vikings.

While I find it hard to imagine Zygi Wilf and the Vikings subsidizing the Star Tribune’s employees, “we” have to assume that Mr. Ridder and Avista took care of “us” (a.k.a. their employees) and negotiated a continuance of a nice discount/perk worth anywhere from $600-$800 in, “straight cash, homey,” as Randy Moss used to say.

I mean those are “our” parking lots, for use by “us.” Where else would “we” find a deal like that?

Calls have placed to the usual suspects, and “we” will update ASAP.