A “for sale” sign soon will be in front of the Majestic Theatre.
A couple months after the iconic Streator movie house made the conversion to digital projection, building owner Tim Burke asked Katie Troccoli and her husband James, who run the theater, to pay him $248,000 or leave.
Troccoli is not planning on leaving, she said. An offer from her, however, was rejected by Burke, and the building owner has listed the 119 N. Vermillion St. theater with Century 21 of Ottawa for $267,000, including the two digital projectors.
For the past two years, Troccoli and her staff had been raising money to make the $120,402 industry-mandated conversion from film projection to digital.
In June, Streator native Robert Endres, who works at Dolby Laboratories, donated the balance of what was needed to buy digital projectors for the theater’s two screens.
That’s when Burke got upset, Troccoli said. He didn’t like that the 35 mm projectors were moved, she said.
“It was about 24 hours from the time the news hit the press that my business partner and the owner of the building, Tim Burke, began screaming and yelling at me,” she wrote on the “Majestic Streator” Facebook page Saturday. “He told me to get out of the building and take those (bad word) digital projectors with me.”
In 16 hours, Troccoli’s Facebook post had 81 comments, 91 likes and 258 shares, almost all of them in support of her.
Troccoli told The Times she made Burke aware she was raising money to go digital.
“He said, ‘I did not think you would last this long. I have been waiting for you to quit, so I could shutter the place. I did not think you could raise the money.’ …” Troccoli said.
Disgruntled, Burke asked Troccoli to give him $120,000 and assume the current mortgage of $128,000, Troccoli said. A $10,000 nonrefundable cash deposit and a closing bid was necessary by the end of September to buy the theater, she said of his demands.
“I was told, ‘Katie, just get me the money and we can be friends.'”
Troccoli, who also is a real estate agent at Washington Square Realty in Ottawa, offered to buy the theater from Burke through her attorney for its appraised value of about $150,000. He declined.
“I’ve been working with a lender to secure financing,” Troccoli said. “These things take time. They will not lend me more than the appraised value of the building.”
In the meantime, Troccoli’s attorney and city of Streator officials both advised her not to leave. She stopped paying the mortgage bill, too, under the advice of her attorney.
Burke visited the theater recently and moved a lot of equipment out of the building, Troccoli said.
After asking for the community’s help in fundraising for a digital projector the past two years, Troccoli believed it was important to explain her side of the story, before customers witnessed the “for sale” sign in front of the building.
“I wanted to tell the public what’s going on,” she said. “I wanted them to know the truth and that I’m committed to keeping the Majestic open here in Streator. This kind of stuff happens with partnerships and business relationships, but after we had asked the public for donations the past two years, they had a right to know.”
She admitted it would be hard to imagine Streator without a movie theater, calling the landmark an anchor for the city’s tourism and recreation. The movie theater was built in 1907 and Burke bought it in 1997.
Slumping attendance, however, led to the movie house closing just six weeks after it opened. One of the conditions of the sale to Burke prevented the Majestic from screening first-run movies for a period of 10 years.
The Majestic reopened in May 2007 as a first-run movie theater after getting new seats, new screens, an upgraded sound system and new paint.
“Any help anyone can give me is truly appreciated,” Troccoli wrote on Facebook. “Thoughts, prayers, legal advise, money. I am not asking for a hand out. I will work out terms with a person willing to help.”
Burke was unable to be contacted by The Times as of Saturday.
The theater remained opened over the weekend. A gofundme page for Troccoli was created online at gofundme.com/6e0h4w and has generated $2,190 as of late Saturday.
The popcorn challenge
Playing off the “ice bucket” challenge gone viral on social media and started by the ALS Association to spread awareness of Lou Gehrig’s disease, Troccoli introduced the “popcorn challenge” on the “Majestic Streator” Facebook page.
The idea is for people challenged to go to the Majestic’s gofundme page, or dump a bucket of popcorn on their head, then pass the challenge to others.