It’s Make or Break Time for Beach Theatre

CAPE MAY — “We are at a crossroads,” Steve Jackson, president of the Beach Theatre Foundation, told a crowd gathered in the ballroom of Congress Hall Aug. 26.
The foundation is waiting to receive a $100,000 loan from the city for a one-year lease of the theater with an option to purchase the entire complex. The loan is expected to be finalized at city council’s Sept. 4 meeting at 1 p.m. and the foundation hopes to receive a check that week.
“This loan really makes or breaks us,” said Jackson.
The theater would be under the management of the foundation beginning Oct. 1. The retail stores will remain under the ownership and management of the theater’s owners, Frank Investments.
Jackson said the foundation would make the theater a “clean and welcoming environment,” during the lease but not make renovations other than painting and steam cleaning.
Jackson said he realized the theater “needs work.” He said the goal of the foundation was to save, acquire and restore the theater and present a diverse selection of movies and promote film appreciation, education and film production in Cape May.
The price tag for the theater complex is $12 million.
The foundation would not be the owners of the theater if a buyer were found, said Jackson.
“It is for us to take that option and find a new owner,” he said.
A new owner would lease back the theater portion to the foundation for a nominal fee for 50 years. The new owner would pay a percentage of costs to refurbish the theater portion of the complex, said Jackson.
He said an aggressive fund raising effort would soon begin to pay for operation of the theater.
Starting in October, the four theaters would be available for corporate sponsorships. Each theater will show a particular genre of film.
Cinema one will feature independent films, cinema two will have foreign films, cinema three will show classic films and cinema four will have animated films. Jackson said it would not be a first-run movie theater.
Frank Investments split the former 860-seat theater into four smaller cinemas 20 years ago. It would remain as four screens during the lease by the foundation.
Jackson said if the foundation completes the lease and finds a developer for the theater, it would be restored to 860 seats with a small stage and curtain to accommodate music performances. Projection would be state-of-the-art in 35mm, 16mm and High Definition video with Digital Dolby surround sound.
Jackson said the vision includes handicapped accessible restrooms, an improved marquee, a conference and a mini screening room.
The adjoining retail stores would also be upgraded.
If the foundation finds a buyer for the theater, the bigger vision is to make Cape May a new retreat for the motion picture industry. Jackson said he hoped a nationally accredited film school would locate a satellite campus at the theater.
He said he envisioned Cape May becoming the Sundance of the East coast.
Jackson said he would hope to keep the theater open year round, at least during weekends in winter. The foundation projects the theater would create 50 full time equivalent jobs, both direct and indirect and generate $1.8 million for the city’s economy. The theater would pay $140,000 in taxes and license fees to the city and state, said Jackson.
In answer to a question from the public, he said it is projected the theater will cost $1.2 million to $1.3 million per year to operate.
An audience member asked what the foundation intended to do about mold in the theater. Jackson said if the mold problem were too severe, the foundation would not open the theater in October.
He acknowledged the theater had “leak issues.”