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| Photo Erik Hansen |
June 4th
"Steve and Jay met with the building inspector yesterday and there is a back room we weren't planning on finishing before opening, but the building inspector says it has to be complete before we can open for business. This is discouraging because it means we have to tear down a wall and bring that part of the ceiling up to code. We continue making plans to open this summer because WE WILL OPEN THIS SUMMER! It just probably won't be in the next couple of weeks, which is what we hoped."
And then on June 9th
"We got a lot done on the theatre this weekend. We predict it is going to take us three or four weeks to finish the back room. I forgot to mention last time, that the building inspector has also asked us to replace the beams in the rear entrances to the theatre since they are kind of old (everything is more than kind of old in this building). This is of course going to take some time, but we got started on it and are optimistic about the whole thing.
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| Some of the troubles they've had to deal with. |
As a bonus, this gives us some time to get other things done we really wanted to get done before we open. Such as finishing the fire alert system. The Fine Arts Theatre never had any sort of fire alert system (which is kind of baffling to us after seeing the fried wiring and general fire hazard the building used to be). The Fire Chief recommended we install one and we heartily agree. Nothing matters more to us than the safety of our patrons so we are going forward with putting in the new fire alert system, which should be done by the time we open! Wahoo! Safer building, sounds like a good plan to me."
Right now, knowing all the work and trouble that has gone into repairing the theater, I am so grateful that someone else didn't come along and turn it into a parking lot. Steve Trumble and Melanie Perry have invested so much time and money into this project that there's no way that it won't be a movie theater. I think we should all be happy that they came along when they did. And when the time comes, hopefully we can all get behind supporting them in the funding campaign to get the projectors they're going to need.
I applied for the asst mngrs job but never got a call (pout) but still wish them all the best. Btw, off to the left side of your FB page you'll see PAGES section. Click on PAGES FEED. Everything you liked shows up there now...
ReplyDeleteThey should have known that they needed to upgrade the projectors before they bought the theater. I am happy to donate to non-profits but why should I donate to a for profit company?
ReplyDeleteFrom what I understand the guy who was running it before had agreed to pay for the projector conversion out of ticket sales as they went along. But he bailed on them. Just left. And the people who took it over had already submitted all their loans and money just to do the renovations thinking the projectors were covered. Something like that.
ReplyDeleteTodd, that's about right. Here's what I know. Steve and Melanie bought the theater as an investment property. They had no intention of running a theater. The theater went up for sale, and they bought it with the intention of keeping the tenant and owning the property. The tenant bailed and Melanie and Steve, having already spent a fortune, found themselves the owners and now operators of the Fine Arts. Commenter with the crazy looking name, if you have any more questions about it, let me know and I'll try to get you more answers. But the reality is that the owners will risk putting themselves in a potentially unsustainable debt situation if they try to take out another loan to cover projectors. It sure would stink to have them get this far along and then go bankrupt over the projectors.
ReplyDeleteTo see notifications from pages that you "like" on Facebook. First, go to the page. Then, click on the box that says "liked" and select "get notifications from the drop down menu. I agree that it is very nice to see those updates!!
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