New Times says it was attracted to paper's "editorial success."

Metropolis Media Corporation announced this morning that it has agreed to sell Fort Worth, Texas-based AAN member FW Weekly to New Times Inc. The deal is expected to close by the end of September.

FW Weekly was founded in 1996 by Metropolis Media President Robert Camuto. It now has a weekly circulation of 40,000. According to a press release issued by FW Weekly, Camuto plans to stay with the paper for “at least one year” to help with its “continued editorial development.”

In the release, New Times Inc. Executive Editor and Co-Chairman Michael Lacey said, “We would like people to understand that the editorial success of FW Weekly is largely what attracted us to this paper. We plan to add resources very quickly to the editorial side of the book and build upon what the editorial staff of FW Weekly has established.”

New Times owns 11 other AAN-member weeklies in the U.S. with a combined circulation of 1,150,000. FW Weekly will be New Times’ second paper in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metro area; Dallas Observer, another previous New Times’ acquisition, was the first.

AAN News will provide more detail about the sale in a story that will be posted next week on the AAN web site.