Ribbon Cut on Re-opened Beacon Cinema
The popcorn is being popped once again at the Beacon Cinema.
The 1964 classic Mary Poppins is the latest to be brought back to life in theaters. And its now being shown at the Beacon Cinema — which has had a reboot of its own.
The six-screen cinema reopened on Friday after the new owners closed the historic building for renovations.
Detroit-based Phoenix Theatres purchased the building and the assets of the movie theater earlier this month and have since redone the flooring, painted, made repairs, improved the internet connections, heated the seats, brought in more candy, expanded hours, increased staff, and secured more movies.
The re-opening comes just short of 10 years since its original opening in the Kinnell-Kresge building on North Street. It was a complicated project to save the 1918 building that had been in severe disrepair and bring a new attraction and people to the city's main corridor.
The Beacon opened in 2009 as one of the anchors to the city's efforts to revitalize what had become a fairly vacant downtown.
But a number of hiccups led the Beacon Cinema to the brink of foreclosure. This August, Berkshire Bank, which represented a consortium of lenders, reached out to Phoenix Theatres about purchasing the cinema from Richard Stanley to prevent foreclosure.
Phoenix Theatres owner Cory Jacobson completed the sale and the lights, camera, and action inside the building continue.
Jacobson reflected on the building itself on Friday, noting its 100th birthday this year.
"It is a sign of permanence in this world that I think is kind of fleeting in this day and age. Driving on the road and to see the building here decade after decade, I think it makes everybody in the community feel better about themselves," Jacobson said.
"We have a great responsibility with our company to make sure that it is maintained and that this is a place for people to come to the movies for many years to come."
The deal required an unraveling of finances and Jacobson had worked with the banks and city officials to keep the lights on.
"There is often political drama involved in these decisions but the right decision was made in this case, we got the support we needed to make sure this theater did not go through foreclosure. We just couldn't have that happen," Mayor Linda Tyer said.
Tyer said the importance of having an independent, downtown movie theater cannot be underestimated. The attraction helps nearby businesses by bringing more people to North Street.
"A downtown independent movie thing is a very special thing for a gateway city. I spend a lot of time with gateway city mayors and when I talk about how we accomplish this renaissance of our downtown, how we came to bring new life to our downtown over this past 12 years, to support Carr Hardware and Steven Valenti, and all of the businesses that struggled during a decline, and we created this new art and culture corridor in this downtown. When I tell those mayors that we had an independent movie theater, we are the envy of many of those communities," Tyer said.
From city officials to downtown business owners to business organizations, the ribbon cutting was attended by a number of supporters of the project and the sale.
Bernard Pagarigan is coming to the city become the manager of the theater. Pagarigan said he had looked up the city when the deal was first coming into fruition and pestered Jacobson to become the manager here.
"This place has something special about it. I really want to be here. I love everything that is going on here and I've been happy since I got here," Pagarigan said.
Tyer thanked Jacobson for his interest and continued efforts to reach such a deal to keep the theater running. She promised that the city wants the company to succeed and wants to have the cinema downtown for years to come.
"You are surrounded by people who are supporting you and wanting you to succeed," she told Jacobson.
Jacobson said he wanted to not only be part of the project but wants to be part of this community and Pheonix Theaters is now.
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