City Buys Old Studio Theatre - Plans To Demolish

The old Studio Theatre has been sold to the City of Middletown for $1.00.  Next, the City will tear it down using HUD Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) funds.  This property needed a lot of repair work; the roof was really bad.  Many older Middletonians used to go there in years gone bye.

 

NRS

The  three/four story building next to the studio that caught fire several years ago has also been acquired by the city and is expected to come down as well.

SW Ohio 75 -

The source of the demolition funds is the HUD Neighborhood Stabilization Program - Round One grant of $2.144 million.  HUD allows grant recipients like the City of Middleton a total of 18 months to spend or contracturally commit these funds.  Downtown property demolition was not mentioned by Ginger Smith's consultant or her when presenting the program details to the City Council last November and again in January 2009.  This is supposed to be a "residential foreclosure prevention" program!

I think I am going to start a new Demolition Company, there should be lots of work in Middletown

I am shocked...SHOCKED, I tell you!!!  The Studio, formerly the "Strand Theater", is certainly one of the more HISTORIC buildings in DOWNTOWN, if not in the ENTIRE town!!!

Vet....remember it well.....it was commonly referred to as Mother Godwins bar & restaurant. Also remember the old fire station on Broad St. next to the alley.

 

The original list price of the Studio was $150,000.   The last several months of the listing it was $50,000.  Owned by the Finkelman family.  I can’t believe they gave it up that easily.  Unless they had no other choice because the city condemned the property.  The city has long been trying to demolish the building next door since it caught on fire several years ago due to safety concerns.  My guess is now that the city has control of that property, they were able to cheaply acquire the Studio, and it will be less expensive to bring the buildings down as a pair rather than individually.

 

If you thought downtown looked like a bombed out zone, the demolition of these two structures will leave a big hole in a this part of our downtown area.

 

In the 1970’s the city used federal money to acquire and demolish many decaying structures in the core downtown area (Main, Central, Broad) to make way for redevelopment—which was supposed to occur in conjunction with City Centre, Many of these structures had significant historic value due to the age.  Some redevelopment did occur and some did not.  Hence the “South Parking lot”  In some instances we got large concrete monstrosities like the Swallen’s building and parking structure—both of which the city would like to see torn down. 

 

Point is, we do have a lot of “holes” along downtown where structures were torn down with hopes of redevelopment without any real redevelopment plan in place.  I can’t imagine the city having developer and or plan in place for this block once it comes down.

 

As a side note, I also hear the city is very interested in acquiring the old John Ross/Mabley & Carew/ARMCO building at the corner of Central and Broad across from Governor’s Square to tear down and expand Governor’s Square because they are running out of run for events held there.  You know this building.  It had the black granite storefront in the old mall.  It’s the building where the current owners wanted the city to remove that very granite, clean and restore it, and the use it as part of the replacement design of the storefront once the mall was gone at the taxpayer expense.  These owners, that moved their traveling nurse company from Miamisburg to downtown Middletown with the promise of bringing 50 or so jobs.  This is the company that never fulfilled on their promise and let the building go into foreclosure (which is how the city is planning on acquiring it).   But they did try to sell it.  Remember the initial asking price of around $800k?   I think it was eventually lowered to around $300k, but never sold.  The listing is not active from what I can tell.  From what I’ve heard, it is completely mold-infested.

It seems that the City of Middletown may have uncovered some unique loophole to use HUD Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) funds for downtown urban renewal rather than RESIDENTIAL FORECLOSURE PREVENTION activities??

That's exactly what I'm saying and here's why:

Saw some great movies at the Studio in the 70's - Jaws (5 times), Smoky and the Bandit, King Kong, Jeremiah Johnson (significant as the first PG movie I saw) and tons of Disney and other cartoons. I loved how there was always a nice cartoon or something before the movie. I also remember a spooky little covered hallway you had to walk through to get to Central from the back parking lot. Sorg was also cool for movies. I don't understand why an Esquire type theatre would not work downtown.

Taken from the Butler County Citizens for Historic and Preservation Services, CHAPS, Web site:

http://www.butlerchaps.org/

Middletown Losing Studio Theater

        A Central Avenue landmark since its construction in 1929, the historic Studio Theater is set for demolition by the City of Middletown. The city has plans to demolish nearly a half block of downtown, including the Studio.



       The Studio opened in 1929 as the Strand Theater. When it closed in 1959, downtown still had two other theaters, the Colonial on Main and the Paramount on Broad. The Paramount closed in 1963 and was demolished for the construction of the City Center Mall parking garage. The Colonial was located in the Sorg Opera House, making the Studio the last theater downtown originally constructed for motion pictures.

     

       In 1964, the Strand reopened as the Studio Theater by Associated Theaters of Cincinnati. At that time, the interior underwent extensive renovations and the marquee was modernized. The Studio operated until 1984 and has been inconsistently occupied since.



       The destruction of the Studio Theater will be a significant loss for Downtown Middletown. Not only will the city lose an important piece of history and potential, but the Central Avenue streetscape will be marked by another hole. While CHAPS acknowledges the economic limitations of a restoration project by the city, there does not exist a pressing necessity to demolish the structure at this time. Reclaiming the theater would offer a wonderful compliment to the city's plans to revitalize through the arts. In other cities the size of Middletown, theaters have been restored for local theater groups. In Hamilton, the Civic Theater recently completed the restoration of the Palace Theater by using funds from the Ohio Cultural Facilities Commission.

spiderjohn wrote: ... What is the rush, other than a package deal with the property owner?

"Package deal"???  I have heard rumors about such a thing on the street, but have dismissed it as mere speculation or scuttlebutt.  After all, our City Manager has unequivocally stated, during a City Council meeting that the city will NOT be acquiring the Sorg mansion!