Springfield Movie Theater set to reopen in July

Come July, Harry Potter will be back in town.
The Springfield Housing Authority has hired an experienced theater company to coordinate the reopening and operate the Springfield Movie Theater.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20110405/NEWS02/704059941

Published April 5, 2011 in the Rutland Herald

Springfield Movie Theater set to reopen in July

By SUSAN SMALLHEER

SPRINGFIELD — Come July, Harry Potter will be back in town.

The Springfield Housing Authority has hired an experienced theater company to coordinate the reopening and operate the Springfield Movie Theater.

Bill Morlock, executive director of the housing authority, said Friday that Phillip Meadow, owner of Keene Cinemas LLC in Keene, N.H., will operate the rebuilt three-screen theater.

Morlock said the $3.4 million renovation project is behind schedule, but the theater hopes to reopen July 1, in time to show the final Harry Potter movie, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2.”

Morlock said he believed the Potter movie opens worldwide July 17.

Meadow at one time operated hundreds of movie theaters all over New England, and he is undertaking the Springfield project as he approaches retirement, Morlock said.

A devastating fire in July 2008 gutted the 1870 Ellis Block and put the town’s only movie theater out of business, as well as leaving 40 people homeless. Rebuilding of the historic block began last summer, and Morlock said the targeted completion date is July 1.

He said the project was running behind schedule largely because additional foundation work was required for the building.

Morlock said the additional shoring up added about $200,000 to the cost of the renovation. He said the money would come from the project’s contingency fund.

“It was a pretty substantial reinforcement. And we had to move the heating system and then there were water issues coming off the hill,” Morlock said. “Once you start moving things around, it was painful.”

“The changes ate up all the contingency,” he said.

“The theater portion is the most important to get up and running,” Morlock said. The Ellis Block will house eight apartments on the second and third floors of the building, and one handicapped-accessible apartment on the ground floor. The movie theater lobby will take up much of the first floor. The theater itself, which at one time was a large 300-seat theater, was divided into two theaters at the time of the fire, and now there will be a third theater incorporated into the design.

Morlock said he was applying for another state grant to help cover the cost of the additional foundation work.

The nonprofit housing authority has already received state and federal grants and tax credits to help finance the renovation.

To date, the Springfield Housing Authority, along with Housing Vermont, has received a $1.28 million federal Neighborhood Stabilization grant, the same program Morlock hopes to tap again. Last September, Sen. Patrick Leahy secured a $125,000 historic preservation grant that will allow for historic windows to be used in the renovation, as well as the restoration of the unusual frieze on the face of the theater.

Morlock said the tough snowy winter also added to the delays.