Tampa Bay Times sells printing plant to Alden Global Capital's real estate arm

To pay off debt, the Tampa Bay Times has sold its St. Petersburg printing plant for $21 million to the real estate arm of a hedge fund with a track record of slashing newsrooms across the country.

• Alden Global Capital has gutted newspapers from the Denver Post to the Orlando Sentinel.

Yes, but: Times chairperson and CEO Paul Tash said the deal with Alden’s Twenty Lake Holdings was just for the 27-acre property on 34th Street and has nothing to do with the newspaper, which is owned by the Poynter Institute, a non-profit journalism school.

• The Times earlier this year moved printing for its twice-weekly newspaper to Lakeland.

What's next: The proceeds will pay off what remains of a $15 million loan from a group of local investors — including Lightning owner Jeff Vinik, Ybor City investor Darryl Shaw, and Tash himself — and the rest will go to the company’s pension fund.