A vintage Creative Loafing Tampa Bay stand in April 2020. Credit: Ray Roa / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
For the first time in 18 years, Creative Loafing Tampa Bay is locally-owned.
On Thursday afternoon, a group of current employees and two new partners completed the purchase of Tampa Bay’s 39-year-old alt-weekly from San Antonio-based Chava Communications, which has owned the publication since 2023.
The publication’s previous owners—Euclid Media Group (2018-2023), SouthComm Inc. (2011-2018), and the Atalaya hedge fund (2009-2011)—were based in Cleveland, Nashville, and New York, respectively.
Terms of the deal will not be disclosed.
“We’re now our own overlords,” said Creative Loafing Tampa Bay Editor-In-Chief Ray Roa, who started at the publication in 2011 as a freelancer before being hired as music editor in 2016. “I’m really excited for the next chapter of a publication I’ve been reading for more than half of my life.”
Publisher James Howard, who celebrated his 31st anniversary at the publication this week, is among the new co-owners alongside Roa, Senior Account Executive Anthony Carbone—who has 26 years at the publication—and Digital Editor Colin Wolf, who returns to the masthead after a 10-month sabbatical.
“When this offer came in front of us, I knew we had the team to continue growing our publication, website, events, newsletters and audience for our readers and clients,” Howard said. “We’re proud of the journey we had with our past owners and grateful for this opportunity.”
The sale was made possible by an investment from Tampa trial lawyer Mike Trentalange, who comes on as a co-owner alongside John T. Fox, a public affairs consultant.
The sale happens less than two months after the launch of the Tampa Bay Journalism Project, a nascent, nonprofit donor and grant-driven effort that finds Creative Loafing Tampa Bay and other community websites teaming up to bring more non-paywalled news and information to readers across the Bay area.
Chava Communications will continue to operate Orlando Weekly, San Antonio Current, and the Local Culture Creative agency.
“We’re proud of the work accomplished at Creative Loafing Tampa Bay and excited to hand over the reins to a team that knows Tampa better than anyone. We look forward to continuing to collaborate on future projects,” said Cassandra Wagner, co-owner of Chava Communications.
Creative Loafing Tampa Bay’s existing staffers—Creative Director Jack Spatafora, Marketing & Events Director Leigh Wilson and Managing Editor Selene San Felice—will stay on as part of the sale.
(L-R) Mike Trentalange, John T. Fox, Anthony Carbone, James Howard, Colin Wolf, Ray Roa in Tampa, Florida on Jan. 15. 2026. Credit: Ray Roa / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
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This article appears in Jan. 15 – 21, 2026.
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