Drama along Millpond Parkway

MONROE — The reviews have started rolling in, and it’s not looking pretty.

Monroe Town Board’s decision to purchase the former Monroe Theater for $880,000 to use as a new town hall and court drew a standing-room crowd at Monday night’s meeting.

There’s also a petition circulating throughout Monroe, including on Facebook, asking the town to reverse its decision. Residents also wanted to know why there was no public input prior to the purchase.

“Why,” Monroe Village Mayor James Purcell asked the town board, “was there a rush to purchase a building for nearly one million dollars of our tax dollars without public input?”

The mayor also asked why there were no plans or figures on retrofitting the theater. “Our tax dollars will be paying the bill,” Purcell added.

After hearing the residents voice their opinions, Monroe Town Supervisor Sandy Leonard said that she and the board will have to talk about it further.

One possible option, Leonard said, is that one part of the building would be the theater and the rest for town offices.

Leonard said the board anticipates setting up an attorney-client meeting next Monday to discuss the purchase of the property.

“We heard what the public said last night,” Leonard said in an interview Tuesday. “We heard them loud and clear. If we can work something out, we will.”

Auction

The energy behind the purchase begins with the fact that town offices are crowded and need to be updated.

The town moved several of their Stage Road offices, the building department and assessor’s department, to the town’s courthouse building on Lake Street.

When the town learned that the theater would be sold at auction, Leonard said, “We decided to give it a shot.”

The town bought the theater for $880,000 at an auction held Friday, Nov. 16, at the county courthouse in Goshen.

Councilman Rick Colon was the town’s representative. When asked how he felt when his bid was accepted at the auction, Colon said: “My stomach was in knots. I had a vision that we really needed this building - and I didn’t think our offer would pass the muster.”

Colon outbid two other people, who later said they intended to keep the building as a theater.

The purchase is a great opportunity, he said.

“Monroe has the highest fund balance in Orange County but because of its conservative approach to spending,” he said. “We are offering the residents an expanded facility at a purchase price unheard of in the local real estate market.”

Besides keeping the town offices under one roof, Colon said, there are several uses envisioned for residents which include keeping a section of the building for cultural activities.

“ It will be a perfect venue, he said, to showcase local talent as well as draw people into the village,” he said. “We are not losing a theater but gaining a cultural center.”

The town will not know how much it will cost to renovate the theater into an office building until the engineering and architectural bids are returned.

Once returned, the bids, he said, will go out immediately.

“As soon as we get a firm estimate we will be able to start the renovations,” Colon said.

Earlier efforts

“We had first thought about buying the theatre property several years ago to get everybody under one roof.” Leonard said.

She said the town looked at buying the theater several years ago when the owner was having problems and it was an unfinished steel structure.

Back in 2005, a New York City financial institution that controlled the vacant movie theatre property had suggested the town could use the land for a office building.

The theatre finally opened in 2008 after village officials told the owner Norman Adie to either build it or tear it down.

The town tried another option.

It was a proposal to build a joint library/town hall on the old Orange and Rockland property on Route 208 but was shot down by voters who cited the high cost and location of the property.

The theatre closed in 2011 after Aide was convicted for fraud and bilking investors out of more than $530,000.

The building

The 26,852-square foot, three-story building is equipped with an elevator; it also has new air conditioner and sprinkler systems.

Town board members have talked about keeping part of the theater as place where movies could be shown, art shows exhibited or holiday-themed activities.

Leonard said the town will be able to pay off the purchase price in five years or less. And no permissive referendum will be required.

The town expects to eventually sell off the two existing buildings - the town hall on Stage Road and the courthouse on Lake Street.

Two other town buildings, the highway department and the Senior Center, will remain at their present sites.

According to town assessor April McDonald, the present town hall is assessed at $94,500; the John DeAngelis Hall building on Lake Street at $76,700; and the Monroe Theater on Mill Pond Parkway at $215,000.

At Monday’s meeting resident Lolie Farrell-Fasano questioned selling the two parcels in a depressed real estate market.

“Let the town keep it as a theater,” she said. “I would rather see my tax money pay for an activity that would have a trickle down effect throughout the village businesses.”

“The town needs a place for fun,” Farrell-Fasano added.

No estimate has been announced for the anticipated renovations to turn the theatre building into a municipal building.

The present buildings will be put back on the tax rolls but the new site will go off the tax roll.

“This purchase,” Leonard said, “allows the town municipality offices to keep a strong presence in the village.”

By Claudia Wysocki