Prairie Mountain Media announced on Friday that it will close the Times-Call’s office in Longmont before the end of the month and move the newspaper’s staff to Boulder.

The company stressed that it remains committed to Longmont and that the newspaper will continue to serve its readers. But for the first time in its 146-year history, the local newspaper will not have an office in the community.

The 22 employees based out of the newspaper’s office at 1860 Industrial Circle will report to work in Longmont for last time Friday, Feb. 24.

Beginning the following Monday, nine news, 12 advertising and one circulation department employee will report to work at 2500 55th St. in Boulder, home of Prairie Mountain Media’s headquarters and the Daily Camera.

The two newspapers will operate from that location.

“I think you’ll be seeing this kind of thing happening all the time,” Publisher Al Manzi told the Times-Call staff this afternoon while announcing the move.

In a prepared statement, Manzi said such consolidation is “a necessity to sustain community papers.”

“The Longmont reporters, photojournalists and sales consultants will continue to serve the Longmont community,” he added.

There are no job losses associated with the move.

“The market forces in this hyper-competitive digital world force us to look for every option as a company to be more efficient,” Manzi said in the statement. “In Longmont and Boulder we have two facilities, only 12 miles apart.”

In April 2015, the Times-Call moved from 350 Terry St., where it had been for more than five decades, to the Campus at Longmont business park, which sits behind the Best Western Plus Plaza Hotel and just east of Village at the Peaks.

Prairie Mountain signed a 65-month lease on the 4,800-square-foot space. The company will sublet the fully-furnished facility for the duration of the lease, which ends in September 2020.

“We do not have any tenants lined up,” Manzi told a reporter. “(But) we’re confident. It’s a strong market. We’ve got an excellent facility and an excellent location.”

Sale to MediaNews Group

The Times-Call was folded into Prairie Mountain Media in February 2011 when Lehman Communications — publisher of the Times-Call, Loveland Reporter-Herald, Cañon City Daily Record and Colorado Hometown Weekly — sold the newspapers and the Lehman Printing Center in Berthoud to MediaNews Group.

In the months following the sale, the Times-Call business office, human resources department and the newsroom’s design desk were moved to Boulder as part of original consolidation efforts.

For the past year, Times-Call sports, business and entertainment coverage have been coordinated out of the Boulder office, and the newsrooms of both papers have worked closely together on regional coverage since the 2011 merger.

The 55th Street office also houses the staffs of Colorado Hometown Weekly, the Broomfield Enterprise and the Colorado Daily. A centralized page production desk at that office serves Prairie Mountain Media’s 15 newspapers throughout the state, as well as the St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press.

The Daily Camera moved to the 55th Street office in 2015. In 2011, it had moved from its longtime Pearl Street location to Western Avenue in Boulder.

Previously, Lehman Communications had moved all of its production operations from Longmont to the Berthoud facility, leaving those parts of its building vacant.

In September 2014, Prairie Mountain sold the 48,310-square-foot Terry Street building to Longmont-area investor Jamie St. John for $2.4 million.

At the time of the building sale, Manzi said the company’s “commitment to the Longmont market has never been greater.”

This week, Manzi said that “the commitment remains the same. However, the changes in our business and in the media landscape will continue to force us to change our structure, based upon those competitive pressures.”

Consolidation in the industry

For years, large and small newspaper chains across the country have been centralizing and consolidating business, production, editing and design departments as a way of remaining competitive in an increasingly fractured market.

Most notably, giants such as Gannett and Digital First Media (created by MediaNews’ merger with 21st Century Media in 2013) have turned to consolidation.

Jerry Raehal, chief executive officer for the Colorado Press Association, said newspaper companies combining their resources are not unheard of “at this point in the industry.”

He added that he believes Prairie Mountain still will be able to cover Longmont.

“Our industry is in the process of changing,” Raehal said. “Hopefully, it’s a rebirth. How we consume news is vastly different than how we did 20 years ago. Newspapers have benefitted from online readership, but we are still trying to figure out how to monetize it as well.”

In the years preceding its sale, the Times-Call had moved Colorado Hometown Weekly employees from Lafayette to its Longmont offices.

“I don’t believe readers or advertisers will see any impact at all,” Manzi said in his statement. “We already do so much consolidation that has had no impact on readers or advertisers. This should be invisible for them.”

Times-Call employee phone numbers and email addresses will remain the same. Manzi said that the company is working on placing payment drop-boxes at a couple of locations in Longmont.

“We will continue to support Longmont organizations like the Longmont Chamber, Economic Development, Boulder County Business Hall of Fame, The Inn Between, Community Food Share, ‘I Have a Dream’ Foundation of Boulder County and Unity in the Community,” Manzi said in the statement.

Long history in Longmont

The Time-Call’s roots go back to 1871, when Elmer and Fred Beckwith printed the Free Press in Burlington, a town just southeast of Longmont.

By June of 1872, they had moved to Longmont, where they began publishing the Longmont Sentinel, which they shortly thereafter renamed the Longmont Press. Later, their publication became the Weekly Times, then the Daily Times.

A 1931 merger of the Times and its competitor, the Longmont Call, created the Times-Call. On Feb. 1, 1957, Ed and Ruth Lehman purchased the Longmont Times-Call.

Dean Lehman, former publisher of the Times-Call, said on Friday that he had not heard about the move, but found it “kind of surprising.”

“I guess they are making decisions that are best for them,” said Lehman, referring to Prairie Mountain Media. “I think it’s unfortunate, but (Priarie Mountain) owns the company. They are probably making the decision that they feel is best for them under today’s climate.”

Longmont Mayor Dennis Coombs said he won’t be losing any sleep over the decision, but added that he found it disappointing.

“I hope they will keep covering Longmont,” he said. “We are different from Boulder, and we have a lot of good stories. There are a lot of good things happening in Longmont.”

Staff Writer John Bear contributed to this report.

John Vahlenkamp: 303-684-5239, jvahlenkamp@times-call.com