The owners of the Ames Tribune announced Tuesday they have sold the newspaper.

Partnership Press, Inc., which publishes the Tribune and other central Iowa newspapers, was purchased by The Omaha World-Herald Company for an undisclosed amount.

The transaction between the World-Herald and Partnership Press owners Gary Gerlach, Michael Gartner and the estate of the late David Belin is expected to close Oct. 1, Gerlach said.

Gerlach said the decision to sell Partnership Press was made after Belin’s death in January. He said the company’s growing size and the tax facing Belin’s estate prompted the decision to sell.

“We had no choice ultimately but to sell the paper,” Gerlach said.

Other publications included in the deal are The Algona Upper Des Moines, Nevada Journal, Boone Today, Dallas County News, Tri-County Times, Story County Advertiser and Boone County Shopping News. A number of area shopping guides, direct mail businesses and other weekly papers in Mid-Iowa also were owned by Partnership Press.

Gerlach said he and Gartner decided on the World-Herald because of its Midwest location and its emphasis on its employees.

“We liked their character very much. It’s an employee-owned company,” Gerlach said. “They have a shared core value, a Midwest ethic.”

Chuck Wood, public relations manager for the World-Herald, said there are no major changes planned for the Tribune at this time, “but that’s not to say there won’t be any.”

“Since I’ve been with the [World-Herald] company, the newspapers we’ve purchased have sort of had that same feel, and we make a commitment to the community,” Wood said. “In this case, we consider them independently operated companies.”

The World-Herald has named Tom Hawley, 41, as president of Partnership Press and publisher of the Tribune.

“The person in charge will be making decisions, and they’re based on what’s good for that community and what’s good for those readers,” Wood said.

The World-Herald Company owns three other mid-sized daily newspapers — the Stockton (Calif.) Record, the Kearney (Neb.) Hub and the Carlsbad (N.M.) Current-Argus — as well as several weekly papers in Nebraska.

“There are corporations who buy newspapers, and their goal is to make money — our goal is to build our franchise,” Wood said.

Gerlach said he will take a sabbatical from the newspaper business, but he did not rule out a return to the industry.

He and Gartner, along with Des Moines lawyer Mike Guidicessi, purchased the Iowa Cubs, a Triple-A baseball team, in June.

Gerlach said he will miss the Tribune and the people with whom they worked.

“I think the thing we’re most prideful of at the moment is the group of people we’ve collected there,” he said. “It’s kind of a bittersweet time.”