Via Editor & Publisher, the Washington City Paper, along with the Chicago Reader, which the City Paper owns, has been sold to Atlanta-based company Creative Loafing, publisher of four other alternative weeklies in Atlanta, Tampa, Sarasota, Fla., and Charlotte, N.C. The City Paper name will remain in place, despite the other four papers all carrying the “Creative Loafing” name.

In a post to the City Paper’s staff blog, City Desk, Senior Editor Mike DeBonis said the editorial leadership of the publication would remain in place, under the control of publisher Amy Austin and editor Erik Wemple. However “certain financial, technology, and production operations will be shifted to Creative Loafing offices in Atlanta and Tampa,” which we’ve heard will definitely include art production, meaning the likely loss of art director Pete Morelewicz, who led the recent redesign of the City Paper, and the rest of his team. No doubt Austin and Wemple will fight hard to keep Morelewicz, but if faced with a choice between moving to Tampa or moving on to a new publication, we can probably guess which way he’ll go. DeBonis also said that Wemple has indicated that the editorial budget is likely to be cut in the coming months to bring expenses in line with other alternative weeklies.

The sale will give Creative Loafing a reported combined weekly circulation of about half a million, and falls in line with other recent alternative weekly consolidation over the past few years, notably the merger of Village Voice Media and New Times Media. Creative Loafing CEO Ben Eason was quoted as saying that by concentrating certain aspects of production for all six of his titles, the newspapers can remain competitive.