posted 01-13-2012 12:46 PM                    

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HEIDI PRESCOTT
South Bend Tribune
12:22 p.m. EST, January 13, 2012

SOUTH BEND — The State Theatre in downtown South Bend has been sold to a local investment and man-agement company that plans to rehabilitate the building and reopen it to the public.

Banko Capital completed the purchase of the building out of foreclosure on Dec. 22. The purchase price was not disclosed.

Precisely what becomes of the historic theatre and when it might reopen, has not yet been determined, Tricia Greaney, property manager with South Bend-based Banko Capital, said.

“We need to figure out what the highest and best use of the theatre will be, and we are open to everything,” Greaney said Friday. “All we know is we want to contrib-ute to the community and downtown. Everyone has memories of the State Thea-tre, and we’ll be investing in its renovation.”

The State Theatre opened in 1921 as the Blackstone Theatre Vaudeville House, and contains bullet holes from a 1934 shootout be-tween police and John Dil-linger, whose gang robbed their last bank in that block.

Banko Capital also owns such properties as the York-towne building in downtown Mishawaka, the Viridean of-fice building in South Bend, and it has ownership in the North Douglas Condomini-ums in Mishawaka.

Not only are South Bend city officials pleased the State Theatre has a new owner, but they also are looking forward to assisting Banko Capital as it moves forward with planning the future use and renovating the theatre.

“They have expressed that they do not plan to rehabili-tate the building in a vac-uum,” Tamara Nicholl-Smith, director of downtown business recruitment for South Bend, said.

She said the new owners have “expressed to us their enthusiasm about the build-ing, not only due to its his-toric significance and aes-thetic beauty, but also because of the potential im-portance the building can once again play in the down-town community.”

Read more about the State Theatre sale in Saturday’s South Bend Tribune.

Staff writer Heidi Prescott:
hprescott@sbtinfo.com
574-235-6070

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posted 03-30-2012 06:16 PM                    

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The new owner of the old State Theatre in South Bend plans to bring the building back to life in 2013.

While the State Theatre is expected to house some type of commercial enterprise, exactly ‘what type’ is still not clear.

“It was a church for a while, it was a night club for a while, but initially when it launched, it was a state of the art silent film (theater) with an orchestra pit, and organ,” said Tamara Nichol-Smith with DTSB.

While South Bend based Banko Capital bought the building in January the company and DTSB are turning to the community at large to find a new use by staging a contest that will start April 1st.

“And in the first round anyone will be able to submit their idea for what they think the State Theatre should be, then we’ll take the top ideas and these people will be allowed to go into round two where they’ll be able to flesh their concept out,” said Nichol-Smith.

Contestants who make it to the second road will be coached by a business mentor from the North Central Indiana Small Business Development Center.

The final round involves “a presentation in front of a live panel of experts, and an audience here at the State Theatre in June,” said Nichol-Smith.

If it sounds like a TV reality show, Nichol-Smith says the contest is loosely based on the show “Shark Tank.”

The contest is open to anyone from amateurs to development professionals: from groups to individuals.

“That’s what we do at DTSB, we try things that other people haven’t tried before because what’s been done in the past hasn’t worked,” said Nichol-Smith.

One tenant in the State Theatre building is willing to play along. Ehninger Florist is moving from one State storefront to another so renovation work on the building can begin.

“From what we understand they're going to renovate, I believe they need some extra space for handicap accessible bathrooms,” said Shari Sandberg with Ehninger Florist.

Referring to the contest, Sandberg said, “I really haven’t seen anything like it, but I’m excited, it sounds like a really interesting contest to get the community involved, community involvement is always great.”

The individual or group that comes up with the best plan for the future of the building will win $1,000 and perhaps see their plan carried out.

“The thing is we have no idea, what the idea is going to be,” said Nichol-Smith. “The owner of the building has every intention of bringing this building back to life by 2013. Sometime in 2013, the earlier the better, and so it’s just going to depend on how much capital the winning idea needs.”

While much of the building houses the old theater there are also second floor offices and first floor storefronts, so any proposal should take that into account.

Since many people probably haven’t been in the building for years, an open house with public tours has been scheduled for April 10th. The tours will start at 12:15 p.m., 3:15 p.m., and 5:15 p.m.

More information on the contest itself will soon be posted on a special website.
News Center 16 will publish the address of that website when the site is ready to host traffic.
In the meantime, the first step of the contest calls for writing a 300 word-or-less summary of a business idea, along with a 100 word-or- less personal biography.
“This is a little different, but I would say the owner of the building is a little different in a very good way. He wants to be sure that he does something the community will really embrace,” said Nichol-Smith.

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posted 06-19-2012 10:57 PM                    

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SOUTH BEND — The State Theater has stood idle for years on South Michigan Street, but the grand movie palace still has plenty of admirers.

The downtown landmark means so much to local residents that dozens of them headed into the non-air-conditioned theater Tuesday afternoon just to listen to ideas that could help reopen it.

Banko Capital bought the State out of foreclosure in December and worked with Downtown South Bend Inc. to solicit the community’s visions for the old theater through a "Pitch Your Plan" contest. The call for input drew 88 entries in April, and the 10 finalists presented their proposals Tuesday.

Banko President Assaf Zvi Dagan said the winning idea won’t necessarily be implemented, but he does value the ideas that were submitted.

"First, we need to get the right idea. Then we need to get the capital," Dagan said. "The idea is to find something for the long run."

Gavin Ferlic, Paul Phair and David Sierdzki presented the winning pitch Tuesday.

Their idea is to make the State into a "rotating entertainment venue" that screens movies, and hosts musical and comedy acts on a regular schedule.

"What we found is, unfortunately, downtown at this time likely cannot support any single one of these," Ferlic told the contest’s four judges. "However, all of these combined can provide enough diversity and enough sustainability for a business to succeed."

Ferlic, who is a South Bend Common Council member and a business consultant at Innovation Park at Notre Dame, said the State would complement other entertainment venues in the city.

He said it’s smaller than the Morris Performing Arts Center, would have a different focus than the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center and, unlike Club Fever, would be open to people of all ages.

Ferlic added that drawing bands and comedians to the State could help other venues by proving to promoters that South Bend has a market for more entertainment.

Dagan presented the winners with a $1,000 check as a prize.

Staff writer Kevin Allen:
kallen@sbtinfo.com
574-235-6244

Copyright © 2012, WSBT-TV

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