Officials to tour Historic Wayne Theatre
The Historic Wayne Theater has another date with destiny.
It will be at 10 a.m. on May 4, when representatives from the Wayne Historic Theatre board take city inspectors on an interior tour of the building to determine what needs to be fixed.
“This list may not be an exhaustive list, but at least you would be afforded the opportunity to have a starting point,” said City Attorney Richard Clark. “In the spirit of working together, that might benefit all of us.”
Officials set the date last week during a meeting in front of the Dangerous Building Hearing Officer. The building, on Michigan Avenue between Wayne Road and Elizabeth Street, was cited as a dangerous building earlier this year. The ordinance allows the city to force landowners to fix up their properties or order them to be torn down.
Theater supporters packed the small conference at city hall for the hearing, which is the second step in the process. The first came when the building owners were notified by the city and given 60 days to complete repairs or offer city officials reasons they hadn’t been completed.
The city and the Historic Theater board and representatives will meet after the May 4 walk through to discuss what progress has been made, too.
Since the initial citing, work has taken place at the theater, according to Don Nicholson, capital fundraising chairman for the theater. External features like the downspouts have been fixed, while windows have been reglazed. Some electrical work has been completed, too. Other larger items still need to be worked on, such as the deteriorating brick on the outside. “I don’t think there’s any building that has been around as long as this one that doesn’t show some deterioration,” he said. The theater opened almost 80 years ago.
Of particular concern to city officials was the back entrance to the building, where cracks have appeared in the sidewalk and steps. Nicholson said that stemmed from a drainage issue with a handicapped accessible ramp to the LaSalle Bank next door and he hoped to work with the city and bank to solve those issues so the work can be done right the first time.
“We’re not here to fight with the city,” he said. “We want to work with the community to bring this back and we have a one-year goal to do it in.”
“Our whole object is to get a certificate of occupancy for this building,” said Ron Whittoff, an attorney representing the theater board. “That was our goal before, but we have a lot of things we want to do.”
Nicholson said many groups have expressed interest in calling the theater home: a theater group, a choir group and a Lutheran school, among others. He said he has a corporate sponsor lined up, too, should the concerns of the city be met.
“We can make this look like it did in 1979,” he said.
Virgina Presson, a life-long Wayne resident who graduated from high school on the theater stage, said the Wayne Historical Society would get involved, too.
“The theater is very special to me,” she said.
City officials said they were encouraged with the momentum that the project has gained in recent weeks, but cautioned members of the board that it is nothing they haven’t been heard before. This time, they said, they want to see some action, too.
“I’m here to hear the facts and I’m hear to heard the plan on how you’re going to resolve these issues,” said former Fire Chief T. Mike O’Brien, who serves as the Dangerous Building Hearing Officer. The building has not had a Certificate of Occupancy for 20 years and has been vacant save for the annual haunted house fundraisers the group organized.
Clark agreed.
“We’ve been through a lot of boards over the years and nothing has changed,” he said. “The city has heard a lot of empty promises over the years.
“We’re willing to work with you,” he told the board members, “but we don’t want any more empty promises. We just want the building either fixed up or torn down.”