Government

Public Buildings InfoSheet: The Playhouse

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[Editor’s Note: The following has been prepared in advance of the “Forum on Public Buildings.”]

Built: 1923, Colonial Revival
Square footage: 8,560
Current uses: Movie theater with florist on ground floor, two nonprofit organizations on second floor. The town currently nets $86,000 per year in rent, with no consideration of capital costs. Committee recommendations: Given the terms of the current lease, which runs through 2022, with an option to renew for five additional years, minimize capital expenses for the building. Relevant articles: Committee Mulls Whether Town Should Continue As Owner of Playhouse (November 2017), Officials: Bow Tie Cinemas Interested in Restoring, Possibly Purchasing New Canaan Playhouse (January 2017), ‘There’s a Fine Line Between Charming and Outdated’: Playhouse Committee Convenes First Meeting (October 2015), ‘It’s Part of Why People Come to This Town’: Officials Discuss Future of New Canaan Playhouse (April 2015), New Canaan Playhouse: Private Owner Would Have More Flexibility in ADA Compliance (March 2015)

Submitted by Lesley Cousley:

Built in 1923 and designed by New Canaan architect Calvin E. Kiessling, this was the first building of the Village Improvement Company, in part of its planned development of Elm Street, then known as Railroad Avenue. The Colonial Revival style building helped set the style for development downtown.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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The gallery for this week’s “Did You Hear … ?” features interior photos from rental units at the newly built mixed-use building at 16 Cross St. in New Canaan, “The Crossing.”

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The Town Council on Wednesday night voted 12-0 in favor of an operating budget of $148,136,106 for fiscal year 2018. The overall figure and amount allocated to the Board of Education ($87,618,405) are the same as had been approved by the Board of Finance. The schools are seeing an approximately 1.6 percent year-over-year increase, while the overall operating budget is going up 2.6 percent.

Government

Officials: Bow Tie Cinemas Interested in Restoring, Possibly Purchasing New Canaan Playhouse

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The movie theater company that leases the Playhouse building from the town is interested in putting money into the aging brick structure and possibly owning it, New Canaan’s highest elected official said Tuesday. Bow Tie Cinemas has “a very, very long-term lease and they have expressed no interest in getting out,” according to First Selectman Rob Mallozzi. “They are a very happy movie theater,” he said at a regular Board of Selectmen meeting, held at Town Hall. “They like the vibe, they like the business model. They have 143 theaters nationwide and are very prideful to be in New Canaan.

News

First Selectman: New Canaan Likely Will No Longer Own Playhouse in 18 Months

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With the movie theater’s operator and a group of locals interested in purchasing the building, New Canaan likely will not own the Playhouse on Elm Street 18 months from now, the town’s highest elected official said Wednesday. The town “would rather not be in the movie theater business, would rather not own that building,” First Selectman Rob Mallozzi said during an annual breakfast hosted by the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce, held this year at South End New Canaan. “There is interest from not only the group that runs the movie theater, Bow Tie Cinemas—they have talked to us. Local folks have talked to us. I think there is a really good possibility that that will not be in the town hands within the next year-and-a-half.

Government

‘There’s a Fine Line Between Charming and Outdated’: Playhouse Committee Convenes First Meeting

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Town residents should be polled on a range of options for future operations of the New Canaan Playhouse, where details such as costs to maintain or more substantially repair the aging structure are spelled out in detail, officials say. During their first meeting, members of the New Canaan Playhouse Committee on Tuesday said the town may opt to keep up the 1923-built structure as-is, mending it as needed, raising rent, cutting costs and operating at a loss, or else going to market to find a private owner interested in getting into the movie business, or even partnering with a newly created nonprofit organization that may run it as a more diversified entertainment venue. It’s important to find out just what those options would mean for New Canaan property owners, committee member Neil Budnick said during the meeting, held at Town Hall. “Our job is always to minimize debt and taxpayer cost,” he said. The best way to accomplish that may be through what committee members called a “white knight” scenario, whereby a generous supporter simply offers to give money to support the Playhouse.