PlanPhilly Moving to WHYY

PlanPhilly, the website that covers planning and development news in Philadelphia, is moving from its longtime home under the PennPraxis umbrella to become part of WHYY’s news operations.

A move of some sort had been expected since August, when Harris Steinberg, director of PennPraxis, left the university to become executive director of the Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation at Drexel University. PlanPhilly  was “initiated and nurtured” at PennPraxis starting 2006. The site was originally funded by the William Penn Foundation, but currently operates on funding from the Wyncote Foundation.

“This is an opportunity to distribute our product to a whole new audience,” PlanPhilly editor Matt Golas said in a written statement distributed Monday night to Penn’s internal clients. ““We will also, for the first time, be able to develop a revenue generation strategy that will enable us to sustain our watchdog coverage.”

“We’ve worked closely with Matt Golas and his team over the last five years and have always admired their energy, accuracy, sense of fairness and passion to serve the Philadelphia community,” Chris Satullo, WHYY vice president of news and civic dialogue, said in the same release. “We’re excited about the potential of what we can do together to broaden the reach of PlanPhilly’s expert reporting through audio, video and community events.”

There was no immediate word on a timeline for the transition.