Town has $826K in movie theater account

After the Bow Tie cinema logo was removed, the New Canaan Playhouse cinema located at 80 Elm St. only displayed blank subtitles and the theater logo. The town has terminated its lease with the organization. The photo is Friday, January 8, 2021.

After the Bow Tie cinema logo was removed, the New Canaan Playhouse cinema located at 80 Elm St. only displayed blank subtitles and the theater logo. The town has terminated its lease with the organization. The photo is Friday, January 8, 2021.

The New Canaan Playhouse Cinema at 80 Elm St. has blank subtitles, the Bow Tie Cinema logo has been removed, and the town has terminated its lease with the organization.

New South Wales-As the town agreed to terminate the lease with Bow Tie LLC, town government officials announced that there will be $826,000 in the city's theater account.

The building needs to be upgraded to pass the Americans with Disabilities Act and general maintenance complaints.

Selectmen's board of directors voted unanimously on Tuesday, January 5 to terminate the lease with Bow Tie LLC, as of December 31. The lease was originally scheduled to expire at the end of 2022 and was extended for two five years.

"We have a fund that has been established for many years, because we did not get any income from lease payments," Kevin Moynihan, the first choice person, told his companions.

According to Chief Financial Officer Lunda Asmani, the theater’s general fund balance is $826,063, which is not included in the town’s total general fund.

"Of course we can use some of the money to make some basic ADA compatible and do this," said administrative official Tucker Murphy (Tucker Murphy).

Murphy later explained: "Since there hasn't been much attention to the building in these years, funds are needed for general maintenance and upgrades."

"So we have a lot of money to build buildings and maintain operations if we want to be a part of it," said the first choice person.

Moynihan said he was peaceful about the deal. "This is the situation during COVID. You have to accept a lot of lumps along the way," he said. The staff at Bow Tie worked very well with them. I think unfortunately, what happened to their business. "

"They did leave all the fairly new projector equipment that had been in use for four years, and all the equipment needed to get it back into normal operation," said Bill Oestmann, director of construction.

Moynihan said: "The equipment they left is very valuable. If needed, we can start playing the movie tomorrow."

Oestmann added: "They also provided us with a year of training to train anyone who wants to take over the business there, as long as it is not a competitor."

Monihan said that he is "optimistic" forward. "Interested in operating theaters. We have to figure out the structure we have adopted for operators (perhaps non-profit organizations)." said the first selector.

"We feel that we are in the driver’s seat where people reach out to us. This is a good thing. So this is an opportunity in many ways. The next step will be to collect all this information and look up to the top Reason." Murphy said.

"My feeling is that most people want the movie theater to act as a movie theater before we have to choose another movie theater," Moynihan said. "On the one hand, don't worry immediately, because people won't be anxious to go to the movies."

Murphy said: "The residents have done some research on us, and in the past few weeks they have sent me information about the cinema they know has ended. This has aroused great interest."

Ask whether the lost income of the movie theater can be returned to the town from any state of the COVID-19 state relief distributed to the town.

Ostman said no, because this is income.