New Life for the Clawson Theater Building; Cleveland-based Developer Sets Eyes on Three Capitol Park Buildings
By Veronica Grecu, Associate Editor A long-vacant movie house in downtown Clawson was recently purchased by Mary Liz Curtin and her husband Stephen Scannell, who co-own Leon & Lulu, a Detroit-area retailer of home furnishings and lifestyle merchandise located next door. [...]
By Veronica Grecu, Associate Editor
A long-vacant movie house in downtown Clawson was recently purchased by Mary Liz Curtin and her husband Stephen Scannell, who co-own Leon & Lulu, a Detroit-area retailer of home furnishings and lifestyle merchandise located next door. With this acquisition Curtin and Scannell added 7,800 square feet of space to their 15,000-square-foot shop that opened in 2006.
According to The Daily Tribune, the couple plans to invest nearly $1 million in renovating and repurposing the former Clawson Theater by spring 2012. The space will then be used as a showroom for Leon & Lulu and bakery café—under a new name, which is yet to be revealed. In a press release issued earlier this month, the building’s new owners stated that the Clawson Theater will require massive renovation and retrofitting to regain the appearance of a classic downtown Main Street theater.
The Clawson Theater was built in 1941 and served as a movie house until 1962. Since that year the building has been used as a warehouse, café and light industrial site, but in recent years it has been left vacant.
In other commercial real estate headlines, The Detroit News reports that John Ferchill, who owns Cleveland-based real estate development company The Ferchill Group, teamed up with an undisclosed partner to bid for three vacant buildings located in the Capitol Park area. The deadline for bids expired on October 14 and the final selection will be made by December 15t.
