AUGUSTA — The Kennebec Journal will move to new offices in north Augusta by the end of February, the newspaper announced Tuesday.

The state’s oldest daily newspaper will move to an office building at 36 Anthony Ave. that previously housed the Transco office furniture company and the state Office of Information Technology.

“We hunted all around to find appropriate space for our employees and customers,” said Dale Duncan, chief executive officer of the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel. “This space works the best for us.”

The move comes about a month after the newspaper announced it had agreed to sell its current building, at 274 Western Ave., to Crisis and Counseling, a mental-health and substance abuse counseling agency. That deal is expected to close Jan. 31, Duncan said.

About 45 employees in the newspaper’s news, advertising and business departments will move to the building on Anthony Avenue. The property is also home to Maine Security; Overhead Door Co., a garage door distributor and retailer; the military contractor Advanced Industrial Solutions; and the offices of building owner Jason Gall, whose business also operates Wendy’s restaurants in Maine.

“I’m looking forward to working with the KJ,” Gall said. “I think it’ll be a good fit.”

The Kennebec Journal signed a letter of intent Monday to lease the space, Duncan said. The newspaper will sign a five-year lease with the option to renew for another five years, he said.

The 6,000-square-foot space is markedly smaller than the newspaper’s current home, which is nearly 53,000 square feet.

The building on Western Avenue no longer houses the press that, until late 2009, printed the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel. The two newspapers are now printed in South Portland, where their sister newspaper, The Portland Press Herald, is also printed.

The Kennebec Journal is moving its circulation and distribution functions to a separate location in Augusta. Duncan said a site has been selected, but the lease is still being negotiated.

Duncan said the newspaper settled on the Anthony Avenue site because it worked best with the newspaper’s time frame – it must leave its current space by Feb. 28 – and parking and accessibility.

The newspaper has occupied the building on Western Avenue since 1961.