Port Theatre Art and Cultural Center
314 Reid Avenue,
Port St. Joe,
FL
32456
314 Reid Avenue,
Port St. Joe,
FL
32456
4 people
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Showing 26 - 35 of 35 comments
A recent visit to the County official who issues permits has revealed that thus far, no permit has been requested by the City for the neighboring property. It is our hope that the City of Port ST. Joe is considering a change of mind regarding the neighboring project!
more information may be obtained by going online to the local newspaper’s website: www.starfl.com and searching for archival references to the Port Theatre will bring up several articles about the theatre from the last few years. The paper’s archival copies found on their premises hold a deep wealth of information about the Theatre, including ads of movies playing, all through to the mid 1990’s when we purchased the building and began our renovations. The Star was very supportive and featured detailed articles back then, though those are not on the internet at this time.
This building just officially made it back onto the market and the MLS link to the listing follows:
Click Here to View Listings
(I hope that worked….it’s not highlighting for me yet. If it doesn’t work for you, send me an email and I’ll email you the link!)
CURRENT UPDATE: THE CITY OF PORT ST JOE IS MEETING ON TUESDAY MAY 18TH AT 5 PM (PUBLIC WORKSHOP BEFORE 6 PM MEETING) AND THEY ARE DISCUSSING THE ISSUE OF THE NEIGHBORING PROPERTY ROOFLINE CHANGE/SECOND STORY ADDITION THAT WOULD BLOCK SOME OF THE MANAGER APT. VIEW, AND THE VIEW OF THE HISTORIC BUILDING FROM THE MAIN STREET, REID AVE, IN PORT ST. JOE. WE HAVE A LETTER FROM THE STATE OF FLORIDA, A LEGAL DOCUMENT (PARTY WALL AGREEMENT), SOME COMMUNITY SUPPORT, AS WELL AS OTHER DOCUMENTS THAT HOPEFULLY WILL HELP US PREVAIL. ANYONE WHO WISHES TO OFFER INPUT CAN EMAIL ME FOR INFO AS TO HOW TO CONTACT THE CITY AND VOICE THEIR OPINION. AS A HISTORIC REGISTRY LISTED BUILDING, ANYONE ANYWHERE OUGHT TO BE ABLE TO HAVE A SAY ABOUT THIS, NOT JUST CITY OF PORT ST JOE RESIDENTS, IN MY OPINION. I’LL KEEP POSTING UPDATES ON STATUS.
One last update: the prior buyer we had on this theatre (contract failed to close) spent alot of money on research and plans for the renovation of the building. He expresses continued interest in the building, and might share his information/plans with a new buyer.
I know the photos make it look like a mess inside, but the building actually has alot of character. We fell in love with its potential when it was full of debris, boarded up and looking its ugliest. It’s sad to think about the quick profit aspect. We had one potential buyer want to put condos in here, three stories of them, and we were heartsick at just the idea. Thankfully, no full price offer was made on that idea, so we had the freedom to say no to such an idea/offer. Had the offer been a full price offer, we would have possibly had liability to pay a commission on the offer, even turning it down. It’s a tough world sometimes; thanks for the encouragement. After we purchased the building in 1995, it took us several months to get the building usable for any purpose at all. It’s sad, to me, to see all the theatres across the country that are getting lost in the process of development. I understand how it can happen, but it grieves me. The reality though, is the highest and best use of a property. Sometimes it just doesn’t pencil for an owner. Our building, should someone come in and more fully restore it, will represent an act of love for theatres; it probably has no hope of penciling out as an “investment”. Certainly, for us, we have taken this building as far as we can. The manager’s apartment is very livable, very nice. But the theatre itself still has alot of needs. We mostly just made it safe – which was a real project. We saved the old reader board (needs restoring), and alot of other movie equipment and misc. that we found. If it looked even halfway restorable, we saved it. I pictured a museum here at one time. We all have poignant memories of attending movies, but few of us have the money to preserve the buildings. We are certainly ready to pass the torch of this race on to another with deeper pockets than we have.
I admire your efforts to restore a theatre in need of a lot of work when perfectly good working theatres are demolished in bigger cities for quick profit.
One last thing, the roof was damaged in 1985 by Hurricane Kate. The building was built right. It is a steel building, with (in most places) walls that are four brick thick. The brick was of a special clay and mineral composition that is no longer available. It is a very hard brick, very beautiful, with great color.
6-28-66! Frankie and Johnny was the last movie recorded as played here, according to a booklet we found (water damaged but not destroyed ledger book) We bought it when it had been WITHOUT a roof for TEN YEARS. Actually, we hauled off over 150 ton of debris that had accumulated (two roof systems and old appliances stored in it, etc) before we could even use the building at all. We have been working with someone who has an interest in restoring it further. We also documented with photos the original as best we could, but honestly, you wouldn’t believe the mess it was when we bought it. The City of Port St. Joe had discussed tearing it down. People in the town were eventually thrilled and considered my husband a hero when he got a roof on it (cost three times what we paid for the building!) and began the process of turning it back around. The facade has alot more neon that we have finished, but not installed. We are so excited at the thought of what can/will happen here. Goes to show that when you think it’s too far gone, you can pull something back out of the ashes, so to speak and give it life again!
Great facade but what a mess inside! When was it last used as a working theatre?
View link
I believe the link above will take you to the photos…….I tried the search noted in comment before and it pulls up some photos unrelated that are outdated from previous auctions.
You can see a photo of this theatre with the article titled, “One Theater’s Experience with the National Register of Historic Places”
posted by Port Theatre on May 11, 2004 at 9:20am. Also, I have several photos on a website: www.webshots.com , under the user name wadeclarkauctions. I could also send you a direct link to the website, if you have any problems finding our page. It is our hope in the near future to see this building owned by someone who can finance the final restorations needed to put this back into a theatre. Meanwhile, we pay the bills on restoration to date by having a weekly auction in it!