City Buys Old Studio Theatre - Plans To Demolish
Printed From: MiddletownUSA.com
Category: Middletown City Government
Forum Name: Community Revitalization
Forum Description: Middletown Community Revitalization News
URL: http://www.middletownusa.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2019
Printed Date: Nov 22 2024 at 12:43am
Topic: City Buys Old Studio Theatre - Plans To Demolish
Posted By: Rail Fan
Subject: City Buys Old Studio Theatre - Plans To Demolish
Date Posted: Oct 01 2009 at 1:11pm
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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
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Replies:
Posted By: Pacman
Date Posted: Oct 01 2009 at 1:23pm
| Need to buy up some more of those properties like that and let the old wrecking ball loose on them. |
Posted By: swohio75
Date Posted: Oct 01 2009 at 1:52pm
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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.
Hate to see The Studio go. I had heard that a church was looking to purchase and renovated for use.
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Posted By: Hermes
Date Posted: Oct 01 2009 at 2:18pm
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It will definitely take away from the historical feel for sure. Hate to see it go. ------------- No more democrats no more republicans,vote Constitution Party !! |
Posted By: Rail Fan
Date Posted: Oct 01 2009 at 5:04pm
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SW Ohio 75 -
A close friend and highly regarded local real estate professional informed me today of this development. It's his understanding that the cost of demolition of the theatre and adjoining building will exceed $100,000 in HUD "residential foreclosure prevention" funds. The theatre is known to have considerable asbestos that needs to be abated.
What other downtown or historic properties may be acquired with these "residential foreclosure prevention" funds? Could a noteworthy S. Main Street property be next (not for demolition)??
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Posted By: Hermes
Date Posted: Oct 01 2009 at 5:25pm
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Is that $100,000 part of the same fund that needs to be spent (CDBG) within the 5 year limit ? If it is then we know why it wasn't spent before now.
Wonder how long the deal on the theater has been in the works ? Has anyone heard anything about the city doing this before now ? ------------- No more democrats no more republicans,vote Constitution Party !! |
Posted By: Rail Fan
Date Posted: Oct 01 2009 at 5:30pm
| 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! |
Posted By: Rail Fan
Date Posted: Oct 01 2009 at 5:34pm
| At a couple of Planning Department meetings that I attended, Marty K. noted that the Old Studio Theatre was one downtown building that was under consideration for acquisition and demolition. Reportedly, this property did not sell on the open market because of significant rehabilitation and asbestos abatement costs that dampened prospective buyers interest. |
Posted By: lrisner
Date Posted: Oct 01 2009 at 8:30pm
| I think I am going to start a new Demolition Company, there should be lots of work in Middletown |
Posted By: Vivian Moon
Date Posted: Oct 02 2009 at 5:09am
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Isiner What firms are doing the demolition for the City?
Are these jobs going to open bid or are they for the favored few contractors? |
Posted By: Mike_Presta
Date Posted: Oct 02 2009 at 6:26am
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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!!!
Where is the Historic Society on this???
Where is the Commission for Landmarks and Historic Structures???
Where is PRISM???
Where is the Highlands Historic group???
Where is Sammie???
Where is Kohler???
Where are all of the past officers of the Historic Society???
Where is Mayor Lawrence P. Mulligan, Jr.???
Haven't ANY of them heard about this yet???
Can't SOMEONE rush over there and plant some FLOWERS, for goodness sakes??? Surely THAT would save this "treasured jewel" of our city!!!
If I offer $50,000.00 or so for someone to build a $10 model canal boat in the lobby, would THAT change things???  ------------- “Mulligan said he ... doesn’t believe they necessarily make the return on investment necessary to keep funding them.” …The Middletown Journal, January 30, 2012 |
Posted By: VietVet
Date Posted: Oct 02 2009 at 6:55am
Ahh yes, the Studio. Last time I was in there was 1968. Was one of the stops on Prom weekend along with LeSourdsville Lake back then. The whole event was called "Prom Jubilee" I believe. (For all you older Middie graduates) Sad. Slowly but surely, they are knocking down all the happy old memories from the 60's for me and leaving empty lots in their places.  Progress marches on! 
Mike/swohio75- I remember the Studio being the Strand and the current Sorg Opera House being the Colonial. Don't forget the Paramount Theatre on Broad around the area where the stage for the Broad St Bash is now. By the way, while we're strolling down memory lane, do you remember a restaurant called Godwin's on Broad across the street from the Paramount? How about you Spiderjohn? Railfan- if you are suggesting that the money being used is not for building demolition ie- being used illegally, is there a contact to report this? Good point by Irisner and Vivian- wonder how many quotes they did get for this work and did they keep it "in the family" when they bid the job out? Since Marconi is in the construction business, would he have ties that would link him to some of this demolition work and, if so, wouldn't that raise some questions about his involvement as to the choices for these services? Just asking. (Kinda like the questions that floated around when Perry Thatcher was on Council and what his involvement was in the wheeling and dealing of properties around town.) And where to put the material from the demolition, asbestos and all-- hmm- how about using it to fill in the now defunct Lake Middletown? Never know- filling in that muddy hole may help knock down that mosquito population so that we can enjoy Ms. Mort's Bicentenial Commons stage area, read the bricks and "frolick like giddy school kids" around the archway.
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Posted By: 409
Date Posted: Oct 02 2009 at 8:48am
| 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. |
Posted By: Hermes
Date Posted: Oct 02 2009 at 9:17am
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Almost every town at least tries to save their old theater's. If nothing else gut'em and save the facade for the historical value. But apparently there are major plans for that lot ?
They did a good job keeping it quiet if it's been on the demolition list for a while. ------------- No more democrats no more republicans,vote Constitution Party !! |
Posted By: swohio75
Date Posted: Oct 02 2009 at 11:57am
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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 ( 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 |
Posted By: swohio75
Date Posted: Oct 05 2009 at 10:00am
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Interesting. I took another look at the two new downtown concept plans developed by Woolpert earlier this year. A very close look at Central Avenue near where the Studio building is is shown as green--meaning park/open space.
Perhaps that is their redevelopment idea for this spot.
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Posted By: Nelson R. Self
Date Posted: Oct 05 2009 at 10:35am
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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?? ------------- Nelson Self |
Posted By: SupportMiddletown
Date Posted: Nov 01 2009 at 12:14pm
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^Are you suggesting the city should not be using NSP funds for commerical demolition? ------------- |
Posted By: Nelson R. Self
Date Posted: Nov 01 2009 at 1:43pm
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That's exactly what I'm saying and here's why: 1) In this decade the percentage of owner-occupied houses in Middletown has markedly declined and must be halted;
2) According to City staff there's up to 1,000 residential properties that may warrant demolition;
3) According to City staff there's more than 2,300 residential properties having minor to major housing code violations;
4) Any reputable local real estate professional will tell you that there's still a large number of vacant, foreclosed homes for sale.
5) The intent of the HUD Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) was/is to combat the negative impact that residential property foreclosures are having upon many neighborhoods;
6) Homeownership promotion helps to halt the continuing decline in residential property values; and,
7) Homeownership promotion helps to stabilize the declining tax base and assists in marketing Middletown from an economic development standpoint.
Past policies of senior City staff has led to the following:
1) Decreasing percentages of working class homeownership in Ward 2 plus parts of Wards 1 and 4; and,
2) Explosive growth in subsidized housing in our community from 2000 to 2005 has negatively impacted schools, the tax base, resident safety, etc.
Lastly, please consider failed and/or financially wasteful HUD projects such as:
1) the Dollar Homes acquisition/rehabilitation/resale program; and,
2) the Maple Park Subdivision new single-family development.
These are only a few of the mismanaged or ill-conceived boondoggles that our all-knowing senior City staff have given to us.
I'm a registered Ward 3 voter and I proudly submitted my ballot with the name of Joshua E. Laubach marked last week. I hope many other Ward 3 voters will do likewise.
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Posted By: lrisner
Date Posted: Nov 01 2009 at 3:51pm
| I agree Nelson! Before it is all said and done, quite a bit of Middletown may need to be "Greenfielded". |
Posted By: Upper90
Date Posted: Nov 02 2009 at 3:12pm
| 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. |
Posted By: Bocephus
Date Posted: Nov 02 2009 at 11:18pm
Hey we could have been sitting next to each other as I saw the same movies you have listed here,
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Upper90 wrote:Posted By: swohio75
Date Posted: Nov 14 2009 at 9:30pm
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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. |
Posted By: spiderjohn
Date Posted: Nov 15 2009 at 7:13am
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Good points
I go to many music shows in refurbished theaters(Madison in Newport,Palace in Downtown Dayton, Oakley in Cincy). They have all been re-done semi-successfully, and the Strand/Studio would well play into the area's possible focus on "Arts".
What is the rush, other than a package deal with the property owner?
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Posted By: Mike_Presta
Date Posted: Nov 15 2009 at 5:50pm
------------- “Mulligan said he ... doesn’t believe they necessarily make the return on investment necessary to keep funding them.” …The Middletown Journal, January 30, 2012 |
Posted By: Vivian Moon
Date Posted: Nov 16 2009 at 2:35am
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Mike
Yep, I remember that council meeting well.
If they can't fix the vault at the cemetery how are they going to restore the Sorg Mansion? |
Posted By: Upper90
Date Posted: Nov 16 2009 at 10:51am
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Entirely possible Bocephus, I would have been the chubby kid with a lot of hair, gigantic tub of popcorn, sno-caps and reece's cups in my paws. Popcorn and sno caps or popcornand Reece's cups go awesome together. |
Posted By: sportsnut
Date Posted: Nov 16 2009 at 4:59pm
Truer words have never been spoken on this site! |
Posted By: Bocephus
Date Posted: Nov 16 2009 at 6:56pm
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Posted By: Bocephus
Date Posted: Nov 16 2009 at 6:58pm
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Oops I did forget that in 1984 I saw one of the Amitville horror movies it wasn't a first run a year or two old at the time but it was just a fun time watching movies at that place. |
Posted By: viper771
Date Posted: Nov 16 2009 at 7:57pm
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They are restoring the old movie theatre that was close to my old home town. http://www.foxfullerton.org/aboutthefox/timeline.html - http://www.foxfullerton.org/aboutthefox/timeline.html So far they are going a good job restoring it. There were plans on demoing the place, but the city raised funds and bought it. It is too bad that they can't do something like this in Middletown. Fullerton California's downtown is tiny compared to Middletown's. but they have kept it up. It was a cool place to be :) |
Posted By: middie85
Date Posted: Nov 18 2009 at 5:05pm
 I would love to see the inside of that place one last time before it`s gone.
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Posted By: swohio75
Date Posted: Nov 18 2009 at 5:36pm
| Apparently now the Studio isn't coming down this year. |
Posted By: Bocephus
Date Posted: Nov 19 2009 at 5:39pm
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Posted By: spiderjohn
Date Posted: Nov 19 2009 at 7:32pm
| I always thought that the Paramount was the class of the bunch. |
Posted By: VietVet
Date Posted: Nov 20 2009 at 7:14am
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I can remember most of the theaters having the balconies roped off. People would have popcorn and candy thrown on them and drinks dumped on them from the kids sitting in those balconies.
I agree Spider- I thought the Paramount was a little better than the Strand or the Colonial also. |
Posted By: Vivian Moon
Date Posted: Nov 20 2009 at 3:29pm
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Spider
The Parmomont was the more elaborate of the theaters on the inside. They should never have torn it down. |
Posted By: SupportMiddletown
Date Posted: Nov 27 2009 at 10:09am
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Demolishing the Studio will always be regretted. Hopefully the city wises up by the time they have money to do the Studio destruction next year. ------------- |
Posted By: wasteful
Date Posted: Nov 27 2009 at 10:14am
The biggest problem with Middletown is that you keep holding on to the past , you don't look at what it is now and you have no vision of what it could be in the future.
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