Detroit Newspapers announced plans for a multi-million dollar investment in its printing presses and facilities, which will significantly upgrade the publishing and delivery capabilities of The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press. The project, estimated at more than $170 million, is one of the largest such projects for a newspaper company in the U.S., and will take more than three years to complete. Detroit Newspapers' North Plant printing facility, located on a 46-acre site at 6200 Metro Parkway in Sterling Heights, Michigan, will undergo a 190,000-square-foot expansion to accommodate six new, state-of-the-art offset printing presses. The project includes a new newsprint/preprint storage and material handling system, as well as substantial updates to expand the capacity of the plant's packaging/inserting operations used for both daily and Sunday editions of the newspapers. Frank Vega, president and CEO of Detroit Newspapers made the announcement. "We are very excited about the product improvements and enhanced capabilities this will allow us to offer to readers and advertisers," Vega said. "This investment demonstrates our determination to anticipate and exceed customer expectations and it shows the commitment of our parent companies, Gannett and Knight Ridder, to the southeastern Michigan market. This investment ensures the continued vitality of both The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press in this community for many years to come." Detroit Newspapers' Riverfront Plant near downtown Detroit will continue to operate until completion of this project in late 2005. At that time, the facility is expected to be closed, and the 23 acres of prime property it occupies on Detroit's riverfront will be available for development. The site is located on West Jefferson, just west of Joe Louis Arena. It was built in the late 1970s to print the Detroit Free Press. "This is a good investment for the newspapers and the community," Free Press Publisher Heath Meriwether said. "The press project will substantially improve what we can do for our readers and customers. The riverfront property, which we will vacate in three years, is prime real estate for the continuing revitalization of the city. We recently invested more than $20 million in our headquarters in Detroit and we remain committed to the city in every way."