PM Press, the radical publisher with facilities in Oakland, Calif., and Binghamton, N.Y., has purchased a 17,000-square-foot building in Binghamton that will be its primary distribution center. PM Press is also planning to host special events and book fairs at the site and will build a stage with a sound system. Major renovations should take place this spring or summer.
PM Press founder Ramsey Kanaan told the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin, “The warehouse is ideal for what we want to do, but it also gives us a lot more potential to realize some of the plans and ideas that in Oakland, because of space constraints, would have remained a fantasy. The potential of what we can do at the Emma Street location is not boundless, but it’s certainly bountiful.”
He added: “We’re unusual in the sense that during the two years of Covid we’ve actually added 25% more employees across the company. We see this as part of our continued expansion.”
Andy Pragacz, one of several staff operating the new facility who has ties to the area, is co-founder of the activist group Justice and Unity for the Southern Tier, and teaches human development courses at Binghamton University, said, “Our idea is to paint the inside and outside of the building and do some beautification on the outside with muraling. We ordered seeds to plant some wildflowers this spring and beautify the neighborhood. There’s a giant retaining wall out in front that was built during the New Deal in the 1930s. We’d like to rehabilitate that to make a more attractive frontage in the neighborhood overall.”
