The Philadelphia Inquirer moves to a new home

Reporters, editors and other employees of Philadelphia’s two major papers are settling into a new home. The Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News have moved operations from the historic tower on North Broad Street, to rented space at Eighth and Market streets in Center City.

Inside the lunch truck at Broad and Callowhill, Gus Katseftis is chopping a pile of aromatic meat on a hot grill. After more than 20 years, he says, the departure of the newspapers may write the final word on the business.

“All of them they’re going to move out the end of the week. And next week I believe it’s going to be dead,” he said Monday.

Katseftis said he expects he’ll be leaving as well.

“I believe I’m going to retire,” he said. “There won’t be no business around here anymore.”

Down on Market Street, the staffs of the Inquirer and Daily News are adjusting to their new surroundings.

Daniel Rubin, a Metropolitan columnist for the Inquirer, feared the new office digs would feel unfamiliar. So he brought along some old friends — his bobblehead dolls.

“I’ve got Ron Burgundy, the Anchorman, I’ve got Al Franken from the Sundance Channel, I’ve got David L. Cohen, then of Ballard Spahr, and I’ve got a PETA version of Harland Sanders, the Kentucky Fried Chicken guy,” he says.

Rubin says even though the new building isn’t that far from the old iconic tower, a lot of things feel different.

“I’m not even sure what direction I’m facing, I don’t know where the exits are,” he said. “I don’t know how to print something.”

The future of the old building on North Broad Street, now owned by Bart Blatstein, is unclear. The developer has said he wants to turn the historic tower into a hotel.