New York Press Sold to Local Owners

august 1, 2007  02:06 pm
The Denver-based Avalon Equity Fund sold the 20-year-old alt-weekly to Manhattan Media, owner of five neighborhood weeklies and other Manhattan-focused publications. The company plans to merge the Press with Our Town Downtown, a weekly paper started last year that circulates in Lower Manhattan, according to the New York Times. In the company's press release, Tom Allon, president and CEO of Manhattan Media, says: "At its best, The New York Press has been one of the most distinctive community publications in this city. ... It was a leader in blogging before the word was even used -- distinctive perspectives, opinions, reporting and reviews. While New York City has changed dramatically in the nearly twenty years since Russ Smith founded the Press, the need for independent voices and real community news and views hasn't."