In historic, Victorian Cape May a battle is brewing. Development lust vs. Small Town America. Caught in the crosshairs? An old movie theatre steeped in community love and history. The historic Beach Theatre , which is a "Neocolonial Revival" is facing the wrecking ball. Will the community be able to save it? Hard to say as the sharks are literally circling. The Beach Theatre should be preserved. We all know how it affects small towns when a theatre is lost - for example, preserving the Bryn Mawr Theatre is one of the only things that might, in the end, preserve a bit of old Bryn Mawr....

A fight for the Beach
By Jacqueline L. Urgo
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

CAPE MAY - Preservationists in this Jersey Shore town, where Victoriana has long reigned as the architectural sensibility, are mounting a surprising fight to save a 1950s-era movie theater.
Beach Theatre - built in a Neocolonial Revival style that merged a flashy red neon marquee with Early American lanterns and wainscoting - is as much a part of the colorful fabric of this resort as the 600 Victorian houses that line its narrow streets, according to those looking to save the structure.

"People love this theater. It's been here for years and it's a big part of this town, both for the people who live here and for visitors," said Jerry Gaffney, a member of the board of directors of the Beach Theatre Foundation Inc., a nonprofit group that has collected about 1,300 signatures on a petition seeking to preserve and restore the theater.

The group's vision for the property, which is just across the street from the Atlantic Ocean, is to create an art-house style theater that would show varied genres of films - including animated, indie and foreign - on its four screens. The dozen or so retail stores and eateries that surround the theater, which was built in 1950, also would be upgraded.

But Frank Investments, a Florida-based entertainment and real estate development company, earlier this year obtained permits to demolish the 860-seat theater and adjacent stores to build an upscale condominium and shopping complex.

Gaffney said preservationists might be able to stave off the development - at least for a year - if the Cape May City Council approved a $100,000 payment to Frank Investments.

The payment would give the foundation control of the theater for a year; in that time, the foundation would try to come up with $12 million to buy the property or find an investor who would agree not to tear down the structure.

A public hearing and City Council vote are scheduled for Sept. 4 at 1 p.m.

Will Cape May Lose Another Landmark by Susan Tischler (March 2007)

The Beach Theatre, slated for the wrecking ball just three months ago, now appears to be on the brink of being saved. An agreement between a group of private citizens, spearheaded by City Councilman David Kurkowski and Mayor Jerry Inderwies, and Frank Management, owners of the 1950 complex, may be imminent.

City Solicitor Tony Monzo, representing a newly formed non-profit organization designed to acquire the Beach Theatre property, has been feverishly negotiating (pro bono) with the Franks’ lawyers to come away with an option agreement. Funding for such an enterprise would have to come from a combination of private and public grant monies.

In addition, a plan has been proposed by Steve Jackson, who owns a home on Columbia Avenue, to renovate the theater, and bring it back to its 1950 luster, with a high-tech attitude and make it a "Mecca for filmmakers." Jackson is a high-powered advertising executive and senior vice president of the global division DDB Worldwide, one of the largest ad agencies in the world. Jackson is the creative genius behind such ad campaigns as Budweiser's Spud MacKenzie, "Whassup," and the Bud Light frog commercials.

According to the Jackson proposal, "The Beach Theatre will be the foundation to a plan that will establish Cape May as the Sundance film capitol of the east coast."

Save The Beach Theatre

A Post About The Beach Theatre

It seems every time you open the paper another piece of the past is fighting to survive, eh?