Globe acquires Taunton printing plant

Taunton business park offers room for upgraded presses, with transition slated for 2017

The Boston Globe has completed the purchase of a new printing facility in Taunton for $20.3 million, the company said Tuesday.

The Globe will move its newspaper printing operation from its property on Morrissey Boulevard in Dorchester to a 328,000-square-foot facility in the Miles Standish Industrial Park.

A portion of the new site, 46,000 square feet, will be used for related office space.

“It’s a critical pillar in our future, the ability to produce newspapers faster, more efficiently, and at lower cost,” said Mike Sheehan, chief executive of Boston Globe Media Partners. He said presses at the new location will be in operation by 2017, and will be able to print higher-quality products while using more color.

The new plant will be used to print the Globe, The New York Times, the Boston Herald, and other newspapers that hire the Globe to do their production.

Sheehan said that Globe executives continue to hold conversations with parties interested in purchasing the company’s Dorchester headquarters building. The company also is looking for a new location for the newsroom and sales and related employees.