enlarge Aimee Dilger/(Wilkes-Barre, Pa.) Times-Leader

“I’ve known these papers my entire life,” Bangor native Richard L. Connor said Monday.

enlarge Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

The new owner of the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram plans to sell the newspaper office building at 390 Congress St., across from Portland City Hall. One prospective buyer is planning to tour the building today.

enlarge Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

The Seattle Times Co., which owned the Press Herald/Telegram for 11 years, put the media company up for sale in March 2008.

enlarge 2009 Press Herald file

The site of a proposed 30-story building currently holds the former Press Herald printing plant and a parking lot.

ANY QUESTIONS?

IF YOU HAVE questions about the sale, here are the numbers to call:

CIRCULATION: 791-6000

CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING: 791-6100

RETAIL ADVERTISING: 791-6200

NEWSROOM: 791-6320

An investment group led by Bangor native Richard L. Connor purchased the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram on Monday, vowing "a business strategy" that will "further strengthen" the newspaper.

The sale caps a 15-month effort by the debt-laden Seattle Times Co. to sell its media holdings in Maine. The purchase by Connor's group, MaineToday Media Inc., includes the Kennebec Journal in Augusta and the Morning Sentinel in Waterville, the MaineToday Web sites and niche print publications. Together they employ roughly 500 people.

Connor, who will serve as editor and publisher of all three daily newspapers in the purchase, believes that if the papers are not profitable immediately, they will be by the end of the year.

"I've known these papers my entire life and understand their considerable value as critical information sources within their communities and throughout the state," Connor said in a news release announcing the sale. "Importantly, we have developed a business strategy through which we expect to further strengthen the papers and MaineToday.com for the benefit of our readers and advertisers."

The sale price was not disclosed, although analysts have speculated that it's a fraction of the estimated $230 million that The Seattle Times Co. paid for the properties 11 years ago.

"It's one of the sadder days of my career," said Frank A. Blethen, Seattle Times publisher and chief executive officer. "Given what's happened in the economy, it just became very important to us to get focused on Washington state.

"The saving grace for us is that there is a local owner. It's going to be run by somebody that's a Maine native and has some special sensitivity to Maine."

The new owner plans to sell three downtown properties – the office building at 390 Congress St., the former press building at 385 Congress St. and a parking structure on Chestnut Street – that were part of the media transaction. Connor said one prospective buyer is very interested and two others have expressed interest.

The buildings are being shown to a prospective buyer today, he said, but purchase agreements could not go forward until the company changed hands.

Some of the newspaper's work force will be relocated to the company's facilities off Cummings Road in South Portland, where the printing press is located, and some departments will remain in downtown Portland in leased space, Connor said. He said he is looking at potential sites later this week.

The sale comes at a pivotal time. The nation's media industry is being buffeted by the twin storms of a lingering recession and an Internet-driven shift away from traditional advertising and readership habits. Declining circulation and ad revenue have led owners to cut staff, reduce coverage and, in some instances, cease publishing.

In this environment, Connor struggled for months to line up investors willing to look beyond today's gloom. His sales pitch: Maine is a market that wants local news and local advertising, and an entrepreneur able to buy the papers and their valuable real estate for a bargain price, cut costs through labor concessions and innovative marketing, and form a partnership with workers could attract readers and advertisers.

This community-oriented formula can make the venture profitable, Connor maintained. As an example, he pointed to the financial success he said he's having at The Times Leader in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., where he is editor and publisher.

WON'T MIMIC OTHER NEWSPAPER

Now Connor must adopt his approach in Maine, though he insists that the Maine newspapers will not be remade into a clone of his Wilkes-Barre newspaper.

"I don't think you would find a lot of similarities in the newspapers I've edited, other than a strong emphasis on local news," Connor said. "And with that local news, I'm not just talking about writing and reporting – photography,...