The sale was in play before this week’s surprise announcement of a publishing deal in which the Meredith Corporation, which owns titles like Better Homes and Gardens and AllRecipes, said it would buy Time Inc. in a deal valued at nearly $3 billion.

Sunset is one of four publications whose sales were in the works before the deal was made. Sales of Essence, Golf and Time Inc. UK are also being brokered, said Jill Davison, a spokeswoman for Time Inc.

Sunset’s editor, Irene Edwards, broke the news to the staff of about 30 on Thursday.

“It’s an amazing scenario,” she said in an interview. Sunset had long been something of a dinghy attached to the back of Time Inc.’s ship. “We were just a very small brand in a large portfolio, and we got a commensurate amount of resources.”

Some staff members were told they would not have jobs, and some parts of the business will be restructured. There will be a greater focus on the magazine’s wine and food events and its model homes, which are designed to showcase innovations in architecture and construction. Mr. Reinstein also plans to invest more in the magazine’s digital and video offerings, and to make better use of longtime Sunset personalities like the food editor Margo True, a veteran of both Saveur and Gourmet.

The Southern Pacific Railroad Company started Sunset as a promotional travel brochure, but it quickly grew along with the American West, and eventually became a prototype for today’s food and lifestyle magazines.