The building that once housed local newspaper StarNews for nearly 50 years has a new owner and is set to become office space.

The building's new owner is Bobby Harrelson, a local developer who created Compass Pointe in Brunswick County and has been involved in numerous other projects.

Harrelson became owner of the properties at 1003 S. 17th St. and 1734 Dawson St. through a $2 million transaction, according to the deed registered in New Hanover County. The previous owner was CA North Carolina Holdings LLC, a company managed by StarNews owner GateHouse Media, the deed shows. 

Don Harley of Coldwell Banker Commercial Sun Coast Partners was the listing and sales agent for the transaction.

According to a recent StarNews article, the local publication has signed a multi-year lease for space inside the Harrelson Building in downtown Wilmington. The StarNews vacated the building after Hurricane Florence battered Wilmington in September.

Currently, there is not a lease in place for the former StarNews building except for about 5,000 square feet that is leased for the StarNews' paper distribution, Harley said.

The building, which totals 53,000 square feet, will go through remodeling and updating, and be put on the market for lease.
 
“With the building just closing last Friday there are still some things we have to do before we can enter it to the market,” Harley said.
  
“We are starting immediately to begin to remodel the building . . . and we're going to put it back on the market as soon as a revised floor plan has been approved for approximately 29,000-plus square feet of office space,” Harley said.
 
The building was constructed in the 1970s, he said, adding, “We will be upgrading it to make it more compatible to the current market conditions.”
 
For the space, Harley said, “we envision nice office space tailored to the entrepreneurial layout; multi-tenanted, in a quality office environment.”
 
Soon, Harley said that just over 7,000 square feet of the building will be active on the market as warehouse space for bulk storage and distribution.