Pop Pulse News

New London's Capitol Theater, shuttered for 50 years, is up for sale


New London's Capitol Theater, shuttered for 50 years, is up for sale

Oct. 12 -- NEW LONDON -- The Capitol Theater at 29-41 Bank St. just went on the market for $375,000, and is attracting a good deal of interest, mostly for its potential to add to the downtown apartment rental market, said Constance Howard, listing agent for U.S.Properties.

But owner Eric Hamburg, in a tour of the property Tuesday morning, said he sees potential for the old vaudeville theater, which has been closed for half a century, to serve a multitude of purposes.

"I think somebody with some creativity could create multiple revenue streams," Hamburg said. "You could have your shows with bigger acts. You could have levels of retail. You could have a distillery. I mean, look at the size. ... You could do it all."

The 11,000-square-foot theater opened Nov. 21, 1921, hosting vaudeville acts and silent pictures that later became "talkies." By the end of its run, it was largely consigned to showing X-rated movies, and closed down on April 22, 1974, never to open again to the general public.

In 1978, the City of New London took ownership of the Capitol, but that didn't stop the deterioration of the once grande dame of local theaters, a place that at its start had 2,500 seats, far more capacity than the Garde Arts Center. After a period of neglect, the city finally cleaned up much of the Capitol interior, taking out seats, cleaning up pigeon droppings and eventually repairing a leaky roof.

But not until much damage had been done.

The city eventually sold the historic building to a series of buyers who did little to no improvements. The most recent buyer, Hamburg, bought the Capitol in 2016 for $68,000 as part of a series of downtown investments that included several nearby buildings that he hoped to combine into one.

He says the theater was always planned to be a long-range project, the last he had hoped to accomplish in downtown.

But since his early properties at 9, 11 and 15 Bank St. became tied up in a lawsuit related to what he claims was damage to his building caused by an abutting property owner, eventually leading to a roof collapse, he has taken his foot off the gas on his New London projects. Meanwhile, he said he has put his money elsewhere, and it has paid off.

"Five years I've been tied up with this, I've done $15 million of development," he said. "And they were all home run projects."

Imagine, he said, what $15 million would have done for New London.

Hamburg said he has not been happy with the city's responsiveness to his development ideas, including at the Capitol, where he says he has received no help or encouragement.

"I received absolutely no support from the city and it's soured me on this," Hamburg said. "It's a radioactive environment in which to invest."

He said he had plans for the entire downtown, but "the city never got on board with it."

Hamburg said neither city Development Director Felix Reyes nor Mayor Michael Passero has ever visited his properties in the past few years, and the only times he has met with Passero over the years was when he initiated the meeting. He added that he apparently has been seen as an outsider, a threat to the old guard.

But Passero, in a phone interview, questioned Hamburg's commitment to downtown development, saying "Ten years he's been sitting on those buildings. ... He's sued all his neighbors; that's his MO."

Still, Passero said he'd love to see the Capitol come to life again, pointing to the elaborate tile work at the front entrance as the perfect place to put a coffee shop.

"I would love to see the property in the hands of a well-financed developer with a plan to redevelop the property for a new use or even as another performing arts establishment," Passero said.

According to Hamburg, president of the Westport-based development company Industrial Renaissance, "There's no other building or development in this entire city that can kick start economic development more than this."

Despite his willingness to sell the Capitol, Hamburg sounded enamored with the old building as he gave a tour on Tuesday, pointing to the fantastic sight lines of the theater, where there reportedly wasn't an obstructed view in the house.

A beautiful building

"Beautiful metal, beautiful steel, beautiful concrete, and beautiful brick," Hamburg said, looking toward the ceiling and walls. "The building is all concrete and steel construction ... as solid as anything."

Still, he acknowledged that bringing the Capitol into the 21st century will require imagination and deep pockets, costing many millions of dollars. But the project likely could bring in significant funding sources by using historic tax credits and other state and federal programs, he said.

"I think there'd be more funding made available for this than any other project in the city," Hamburg said. "It checks every box. It's on a railroad. It's a historic building. ... It's on a ferry line. And it's an economically vital part of this region."

It's also in an Opportunity Zone, Hamburg said, which allows investors in these economically depressed areas to defer taxes on capital gains. Among the possibilities for the building, he added, was to convert it into a micro hotel, perhaps adding as many as two stories to the back of the building, which would offer 360-degree views of the city and waterfront.

Restaurants, a mini-mall, apartments or an arcade were other possibilities for the space offered up by Hamburg.

Had Hamburg been inclined to develop the Capitol, he said a music venue similar to the Ridgefield Playhouse likely would have been in the cards. The Capitol had a long history of live acts, including performances by the Glenn Miller Band and comedian George Burns, and it was reputed to have fantastic acoustics.

"I love live music, and so one of my thoughts was was bringing in live music," Hamburg said.

He added that the boxed-in former movie projection area would make a perfect spot for a bar overlooking the performance space.

Looking around the old theater, Hamburg points to a few sections that are largely intact, offering a glimpse of the glamour of yesterday, including a vestibule in the back where patrons likely used to go to smoke. But most of the building looks like a what it's largely been: long neglected, with plaster peeling everywhere and dust wafting into the air.

The city did spend $400,000 twenty-five years ago to do some cleanup work, putting on a new steel deck and covering the theater with a new rubber roof.

"My guess is this is exactly what the building looked like in 1999," Hamburg said. "All that did was cocooned it and then put it to sleep."

Hamburg said he received two offers for the building over the past couple years, for $400,000 and $600,000 but turned them down after listing it for $790,000. He added that "everything in this block is in the millions," so the current listing price is attracting a lot of interest.

Previous articleNext article

POPULAR CATEGORY

corporate

7880

tech

8958

entertainment

9834

research

4242

wellness

7632

athletics

10116