Forced out of the Freedom Center to make way for Bally’s Chicago Casino, Tribune Publishing has agreed to buy the Daily Herald printing plant in Schaumburg for an undisclosed price, keeping the presses rolling for the Chicago Tribune and other newspapers.

The deal, announced Wednesday, is expected to close within days, with printing operations and production employees moving to the new facility in the northwest suburbs over the coming months, sources said.

Earlier this month, Tribune Publishing reached an agreement with Bally’s to vacate the Freedom Center printing plant in River West by July 2024. Bally’s, which bought the 30-acre site last year, is planning to demolish the plant to build a $1.74 billion casino and entertainment complex along the Chicago River.

Built in 1981, the Freedom Center prints the Chicago Tribune, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Chicago Sun-Times and other newspapers. It has also housed the Chicago Tribune newsroom since 2021.

“We are committed to a print edition of the Chicago Tribune and continuing to serve our commercial printing customers by making very substantial investments in several locations throughout the greater Chicago metro area,” Tribune Publishing said in a statement. “This acquisition of the Schaumburg plant is one step in demonstrating that commitment, and we anticipate announcing additional elements of our plans shortly.”

A Daily Herald spokesman declined to comment Wednesday.

Tribune will be trading in its printing plant for a newer but smaller facility. Paddock Publications opened the $50 million printing plant on 21 acres by the Elgin-O’Hare Expressway in 2003 to churn out its flagship Daily Herald, the state’s third largest newspaper.

As part of the Schaumburg plant acquisition, Tribune will begin printing the Daily Herald under contract, sources said.

While Tribune Publishing did not disclose the purchase price, the acquisition is largely funded by a $150 million payment from Bally’s as part of a lease termination agreement at the Freedom Center site. The money is payable in full “upon Tribune vacating the site on or before July 5, 2024,” according to Bally’s first quarter earnings report filed last week.

Bally’s became Tribune Publishing’s landlord in November when it bought the Freedom Center site from Nexstar Media for $200 million. Tribune Publishing’s lease was set to expire in June, but the newspaper company exercised an option to extend it for another 10 years.

With Bally’s needing to break ground for the new casino, which is slated to open in 2026, the two sides went to binding arbitration, resolving the matter through the termination agreement and cash settlement.

The Daily Herald plant made news itself last year when it printed and distributed faux local newspapers with a Republican political agenda for a commercial client, Local Government Information Services. The privately funded publications with mastheads such as West Cook News, Chicago City Wire and DuPage Policy Journal flooded mailboxes ahead of the November midterm elections, generating significant controversy.

Under pressure, Paddock Publications canceled the printing contract in October, and defended itself in an open letter published on its website.

“Because we accepted the commercial work from Local Government Information Services, critics charged the Daily Herald knowingly facilitated confusion about whether the political publications were in fact newspapers,” the publisher said. “The Daily Herald had become the story, and that wasn’t fair to Daily Herald reporters, editors and fellow staffers throughout Paddock Publications.”

While Tribune printing operations will head to the northwest suburbs, it is unclear where the itinerant newsroom will find its next home. Booted from Tribune Tower in 2018 when the neo-Gothic landmark was redeveloped as luxury condos, the newsroom relocated to Prudential Plaza. In January 2021, Tribune exited its lease early amid the pandemic and moved the newsroom to the Freedom Center printing plant.

An announcement about the newsroom is not expected until next year, sources said.

rchannick@chicagotribune.com