Indian River Media Group, publisher of Indian River Magazine and six other publications, has purchased Space Coast Living Magazine and will relaunch it in Brevard County in June.
The asset purchase agreement between Indian River Media Group and Space Coast Magazines LLC and principals Joe Duda and Eric Wright was executed on April 8. Terms were not disclosed.
“We believe that it’s essential that Brevard readers have a glossy lifestyle magazine reflecting the county’s beauty and robust economic vitality,’’ Indian River Publisher and President Gregory Enns said. “We are glad that we could complete this agreement so that we can continue providing Brevard readers with this outstanding magazine about the community in which they live.’’
Duda and Wright announced earlier this month that they would cease publishing Space Coast Living. But the new agreement and ownership ensures the glossy magazine and its website, spacecoastliving.com, will continue publishing well into the future.
Enns said his company plans to expand Space Coast Living’s home section and to add history and other features. Besides the summer edition in June, Space Coast Living will publish every September [fall], November [holiday], January [winter] and March [spring]. The annual Discover The Space Coast, a visitor, relocation and residential resources guide, will publish every December. The publishing cycle mirrors that of Indian River Magazine, which covers the Treasure Coast counties of Indian River, St. Lucie and Martin.
The editorial and sales staffs of the two magazine groups will be separate, although the company will run its administrative functions such as billing and subscriptions, through the Fort Pierce office. Lori Reader, who left Space Coast Living last year, is returning to assist with advertising sales. Tasha Macri, who has been with the magazine for three years, will oversee marketing and operations for Space Coast Living. Enns will serve as publisher.
Enns said Indian River Media Group’s ownership of Indian River Magazine and Space Coast Living means the company will have publications serving readers in four contiguous counties along the entire section of the 156-mile Indian River Lagoon, from Ponce de Leon Inlet in Volusia County to the St. Lucie Inlet in Martin County. The stretch constitutes 40 percent of Florida’s eastern coast.
Indian River Magazine was launched in 2006 by Enns and Allen Osteen, Treasure Coast natives and friends since childhood. Enns is a former newspaper editor and reporter who is vice president of the Florida Magazine Association. Osteen is president of East Coast Lumber & Supply Co., with stores and lumberyards in Brevard, Indian River, St. Lucie and Martin counties. In 2019, he was named entrepreneur of the year by the Indian River State College Foundation.
Starting with the flagship Indian River Magazine, Enns and Osteen later expanded the company to publish Port St. Lucie Magazine, Fort Pierce Magazine, the Sunrise Theatre playbill, Emerson Center program and the St. Lucie Travel Guide.
Because of the number of different magazines and websites it produces, Indian River Magazine Inc. recently realigned itself as Indian River Media Group to reflect its broad spectrum of print and digital publishing.
Indian River also publishes a variety of custom magazines. Its custom publishing partners include St. Lucie County, the City of Fort Pierce, Indian River State College, the Florida Small Business Development Center, St. Lucie County Economic Development Council and the Treasure Coast Manufacturers Association.
And in 2019, the company produced Vero Beach’s 100th anniversary magazine that was recognized as the best custom magazine in the state by the Florida Magazine Association.
“We believe in the vitality and future of print magazines,’’ Enns said. “They are one of the most credible forms of media, and our various digital platforms and websites reinforce these.’’
The roots of Indian River’s two founders run deep in Brevard County. Osteen’s great-grandfather, George F. Paddison, was a five-time mayor of Eau Gallie and co-founded East Coast Lumber & Supply Co. in Eau Gallie in 1902. Enns’ great-great grandfather, Stephen N. Gladwin, arrived in Titusville in 1891 from Melrose, Fla., and owned and operated the first ice manufacturing plant on the Indian River.
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www.spacecoastliving.com/current-issue/
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www.spacecoastliving.com/to-advertise