Monday, March 28, 2016

Osio Cinemas' new owner signs sublease

A sublease agreement between the Osio Cinemas' new owner, Le Prince Cinemas, and the building’s property manager, MCM Diversified was signed last week.

Now, all that's left before area movie goers can have their indie film desires quenched is for the Monterey City Council to actually approve the lease at their April 19 meeting. The Osio Building is owned by the City.

City officials say they don't foresee any problems with its approval because the use of the building is consistent with what is there.

As long as everything is fine and approved, the city will prepare a consent to sublease form and then will sign it along with the sublease tenant and ownership of building,” explained Monterey’s Housing/Property Manager Rick Marvin earlier this month. Marvin went so far as to predict a May 1 opening.

It was back in July that the independent theater closed abruptly with its previous owner filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy with debts of more than $382,000. The case was resolved in late November.

But soon after its closure, three theater employees – Shanneen Kirkpatrick, Brandi Lamb and Jirko Senkel (now incorporated as Le Prince Cinemas)– started an online fundraiser on Kickstarter to reopen the theater. Their campaign raised $76,000. But still, the theater sat vacant, which left many to wonder what was going on behind the scenes.

Now, plans for the theater's renovations seem on track. Those plans include having new carpet installed, fixing the outdoor marquee and cleaning and repairing the seats. The acquisition of a beer and wine license is also on tap.

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