Can You Imagine Waking Up to This View in Waterbury Soon?

Good for you Waterbury Republican-American, you have been the leading news story in Western Connecticut for the past week, and lots of changes seem to be in your future. Renters of Waterbury, did you even imagine that you would have a chance to wake up with a view of Waterbury's most prominent feature above you? It's coming soon.

According to hartfordbusiness.com, Waterbury's Board of Alderman approved a $250,000 application to the Connecticut Community Investment Fund grant program in order to get started on the newspaper's owner's plan to convert a 70,000 square-foot portion of it's building into 38 apartments, offices, and commercial space. If you don't mind the sound of industrial printing presses, Metro-North Trains, and a constant flow of future felons and offenders waiting to appear at the courthouse just across Meadow street, this could be the home for you. With just a short walk, you could be enjoying a nice Bushmills at Boru's, or rest your weary head at the Big Apple Motel.

I'm just kidding around, this is very good news for the owners of the building, and they need the cash right now. The other news that rep-am.com broke this week was that Hearst Connecticut Media Group is in negotiations with the owners of the Republican-American to buy the publication. Hearst runs 8 daily newspapers in Connecticut, 13 weekly newspapers, Connecticut Magazine, and a slew of websites. As a survivor of many a media company takeover, I'm optimistic that the core contributors of Waterbury's largest news source will be retained, but I'd expect the thinning of non-essential local news to continue.