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This topic comprises 3 pages: 1 2 3
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Topic: The State Theatre, South Bend: It's for sale!
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Aaron Garman
Phenomenal Film Handler
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Posts: 1470
From: Toledo, OH USA
Registered: Mar 2003
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posted 02-23-2006 11:34 AM
The theatre is right in the heart of downtown, which is undergoing a major revitilization. Many restaraunts, clubs, and bars are starting to pop up in the area, as well as the ever popular Morris Performing Arts Center. To me, an investment in changing the state into some sort of venue for film and perhaps other types of entertainment could be a very good prospect.
As far as the interior, I'm not really sure. Last I heard, the balcony remained, but the lower level seats were taken out. I emailed the realator about more information, which I'll post once I get it.
Truthfully though, I'd hate to see this historical landmark go to waste as just a night club. I'm so glad it is on the historical register, as I believe that means it cannot be destroyed.
AJG
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William Hooper
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1879
From: Mobile, AL USA
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 02-24-2006 03:17 AM
quote: Aaron Garman I'm so glad it is on the historical register, as I believe that means it cannot be destroyed.
Being on the National Register of Historic Buildings just means that federal money in the form of grants, etc. cannot be used to raze the building or do construction which alters it from its historic appearance. It generally applies to just the facade. Buildings on the NRHB are often razed by private developers, or massively changed on the inside by owners/operators.
I rememeber reading of a case where a city wanted to use federal grants to raze a theatre placed on the NRHB, & applied to the federal government to have it removed from the NRHB. Nothing's bulletproof.
Typically, more safety is had from having a building landmarked. Again, restrictions apply mostly to the facade, & only theaters that specifically have had the interior landmarked (in cities that protect landmarked buildings) have protected the interior from being gutted & remodeled, etc.
Mike Spaeth will be the first to tell you the odds on a workable business model for a 2,000 seat single screen. Typically houses of that size become multi-use, showing films, premieres, concerts, etc. A lot about survivability in cities & neighborhoods where there is already another PAC/historic theatre/etc. is focused on positioning the the theatre either via image by way of what kind of shows it runs or by rental cost: Make it the home base of the local symphony, or if another theatre is already the symphony's home, the theatre where rock concerts go; if another theatre with better stage facilities is already the focus for bus & truck stage shows, the theatre will likely have to look for another niche, etc.
Probably that other PAC will be what it would be neccessary to define around.
Edit: Damn, that mass of modern pseudo-traditional buildings erected in South Bend creates an oppressive, ugly anonymous mall/prison environment.
http://robertpence.com/south_bend/018_main_street.jpg http://robertpence.com/south_bend/020_main_street.jpg http://robertpence.com/south_bend/025_main_street.jpg
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Aaron Garman
Phenomenal Film Handler
![](/ubbmembers/1653b.jpg)
Posts: 1470
From: Toledo, OH USA
Registered: Mar 2003
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posted 02-27-2006 02:00 AM
Well, I got a message from the realator, and apparently another night club owner with significant financial resources has jumped on the place and is near closing on it. I did, however, learn that the floor has in fact been leveled, but most of the building is still in good repair. He estimated it may cost at least $250,000 to turn it into a theatre again, but it seems as if it's going to be another night club. I was still hoping to get pictures of the interior, but that may have to be on hold for awhile.
I wonder why theatre chains don't build places like this anymore. I mean, I understand the multiplex idea, but say design a multiplex in this fashion. Sure, it'd be a fortune, but it's so beautiful looking. I mean I'd love to go to the movies more if I got to walk into a building that looked so darn amazing.
As for the way South Bend looks, yeah it is kind of a downer. There are many parts of the city with great old buildings, but so many in disrepair. It pains me to see some of the older homes so run down because it is wild to imagine them looking their finest. Boy could this town use another company like Studebaker or Bendix to fill the void of the past.
AJG
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Frank Angel
Film God
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Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 03-02-2006 11:03 AM
Man, if I only had the money. Thing is, although South Bend has, for the last decade been trying to revitalize the downtown area, it still is has a hard time attracting people to the downtown area in the evenings. I was there just in 2003 and past 8pm it was like a ghost town.
The group that opened it in the late 90s and tried to make it work as a single screen never tapped the university crowd. I talked to the manager at the time and he said they thought it would work running first run. Wrong. Single screens simply can't compete with multiplexes with first run fare. Single screens have to find a niche demographic and cater to it. With a university at its door-step, independent, art, foreign and selected first run menu would have worked very well. Thing is, with Notre Dame in such close proximity, some cooperation with the university could have been put into place where the theatre could coordinate with the film department and run films that were part of the circulicum, affording students as well as faculty to be able to see classic films the way they were intended. The operators never looked to the university for that kind of interplay, a resource that might have actually made it viable. Without wooing the college crowd -- which would open up a population bigger than most small towns -- it was doomed. Hence the dance club. The fact that the dance club couldn't make it either, bespeaks of the problems downtown South Bend has. And dance clubs don't have nearly the same issues as do theatres in terms of making a go of it; they don't have to compete with "home dance clubs" like theatres have to do with home theatres.
Unfortunately now that ND has built a beautiful, huge performing arts center replete with a theatre designated specifically for film exhibition, not only wouldn't anyone running the State get much cooperation from ND, but they would probably be seen as competition. ND has the power to crush competition like a bug. I could even see the university buying the property just so they could sell it to make sure that the buyer would NOT put in a theatre or any other business that they would consider competitive with any of their activities.
The university tends to be very isolationist with regard to South Bend. It has always been happy to use the city for the cheap labor it can supply, but other than that, the university didn't have much interaction with the town. My observation was that although they had a symbiotic relationship with each other of necessity -- employer and employee -- they didn't much like each other.
Naw, as cheap as that price is, and even if one had the resources to refurbish it back to it's glory -- and it was a beauty....when I was a student, I saw lots of films in the State, and yes, it was a beautiful house as was the case with even the modest neighborhood theatres during the "golden age" of the single screen movie palace -- I don't think one could make it work in South Bend. I plan on visiting a professor friend of mine some time in April. I will check out what Main Street looks like at 8pm at night on a weekday. If it is as desolated as it was the last time I was in town, then running the State successfully as single screen will take a lot more than the price of the building and the restoration.
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