The Monroe 6 Theater, which remains shuttered after the owner was convicted of fraud, could soon be going on the auction block.
Jay Wilkins, the village of Monroe”™s building inspector, said, “The property was worth over $5 million at one time, but I expect it will be sold for considerably lower now that we are in the depths of a recession.”
But Mayor James Purcell hopes to see the theater bought and reopened.
And he might get his wish via Vermont lawmaker Kevin Mullin.
State Sen. Mullin is also in the theater business, and his company, Glenwood Movieplex Corp., has bought several movie houses in the Northeast including one at Marshalls Creek shopping mall in Westfall, Pa. The owner, Norman Adie, was the same owner of the Monroe multiplex.
“We had a lot to replace a lot of equipment and also a lot of goodwill public relations because of the problems the mall owner, Dr. Ray Rayasam, had with Adie,” Mullins said of the Pennsylvania theater. “He evicted him, and we took the theater over and reopened it in 2010. Dr. Rayasam changed the name of the mall to Pocono Square, and we renamed the theater Pocono 7 Movieplex because of the problems with Adie.”
Mullins said he wasn”™t aware of Adie”™s Monroe multiplex and expressed an interest in talking to Purcell about it.
“That”™s good news,” said Purcell. “The theater was a great draw for the community and our local businesses. I look forward to hearing from him.”
Adie bought the Monroe Theater on Millpond Parkway in the early 2000”™s with money he said at the time was obtained through a U.S. Department of Agriculture loan.
Although no one at the USDA could confirm if Adie did indeed receive a loan to rebuild the old theater, he tore it down and began building on its footprint. Delays ensued, and the theater that was scheduled to open in 2006 didn”™t actually make its formal debut until late 2008.
Nevertheless, it was well received by the community. With the nearest movie theater 10 miles away, it was literally the only game in town ”“ and appeared to do a bustling business until Adie was accused of defrauding potential investors in a Ponzi scheme that involved tearing down a theater in Brooklyn and replacing it with condos.
Adie is waiting to be sentenced on securities and wire fraud charges in federal court in April for bilking investors out of more than $500,000.
According to numerous press reports, Adie was using the investors”™ funds for personal use and to try to keep his theaters running.
Neither Adie nor his lawyer, Yonaton Aranoff of Foley & Lardner L.L.C. in Manhattan, could be reached for comment.
