Author Topic: Sun Ray Cinema warns of impending sale of their building to Atlanta developer...  (Read 33729 times)

thelakelander

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Maybe their business model no longer is profitable. No matter how cool it is to have a theater in operation in Five Points, if the numbers don't work, it is what it is. Businesses come and go.
"A man who views the world the same at 50 as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.” - Muhammad Ali

jax_hwy_engineer

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https://jaxtoday.org/2024/04/17/building-owner-responds-to-sun-ray-cinema-rumors/

The buyer will honor the existing leases. Sunray never said when their lease was up, and only time will tell when it comes time to renew with the new owner.

They really got all riled up over what appears to be nothing right now...

jaxlongtimer

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https://jaxtoday.org/2024/04/17/building-owner-responds-to-sun-ray-cinema-rumors/

The buyer will honor the existing leases. Sunray never said when their lease was up, and only time will tell when it comes time to renew with the new owner.

They really got all riled up over what appears to be nothing right now...

Based on the info below from the Times Union and that leases typically roll forward in 5 year increments, I would guess their lease might go to 2028, 20 years from 2008.
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It once again returned as 5 Points Theatre in 2008 before being renovated in 2011 by the current owners.

jaxlongtimer

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Here is a little bit of history of the 5 Points Theater from Mr. Mandell's obituary:
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MANDELL Sheldon H. Mandell, 93, passed away October 17, 2005. He was born in Philadelphia on November 27, 1911 and moved to Jacksonville in 1939. Mr. Mandell was a retired motion picture theatre exhibitor. He opened St. John's Theatre downtown in 1941, and later opened Five Points Theatre.

acme54321

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This whole thing has been a little extra.

Though I was thinking.  If someone bought that building, the janky has station at Margaret/post, and the surface lot on post then redeveloped the whole thing I wouldn't be mad if they tore down just the theatre part.  That whole stretch along Margaret is a dead eyesore.

jax_hwy_engineer

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It's been SUPER extra. I was talking with a few friends last night about the whole thing, and I was a little disappointed just how whipped-up into a frenzy of despair they all got as a result of the wild rumors. If you look on Reddit or Twitter or Facebook, it's ridiculous just how bent-out-of-shape a buncha people got about this non-story.

Jimmy Peluso posted something on Twitter like "it won't be torn down, over my dead body" and Sunray responded with something along the lines of "that's way too much, it's embarrassing!"

Sunray's tweet has since been deleted, so it seems even they know they wound up stirring up a lot more of a frenzy than they anticipated when they posted that emotionally-charged Facebook post.

Captain Zissou

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Though I was thinking.  If someone bought that building, the janky has station at Margaret/post, and the surface lot on post then redeveloped the whole thing I wouldn't be mad if they tore down just the theatre part.  That whole stretch along Margaret is a dead eyesore.

That whole parcel would be only about 1.6-1.7 acres.  Not huge, but you could add some mixed use with integrated structured parking and street level retail on Post or Margaret and it would be much better for the area overall. If the whole site could be brought up to 5 floors it might provide sufficient returns for what would likely be high acquisition costs.  Rents could probably be some of the highest in the city for residential and retail.

Josh

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The building is definitely not getting demoed for a parking garage or any other structure. Sun-Ray is almost certainly getting booted by the new owners when their lease expires in a few months though.

Steve

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Here's my thought though: Let's say I'm a landlord and I buy a historic building. Let's say for a second that I'm keeping the building and not trying to demo it (because I don't think they are). If I have a tenant taking up the anchor bay of the ground floor, and they are honoring the terms of the lease, why on earth would I want to force them out right after I buy the building?

This is assuming that the tenant is honoring the terms of the lease, of course.

Captain Zissou

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Here's my thought though: Let's say I'm a landlord and I buy a historic building. Let's say for a second that I'm keeping the building and not trying to demo it (because I don't think they are). If I have a tenant taking up the anchor bay of the ground floor, and they are honoring the terms of the lease, why on earth would I want to force them out right after I buy the building?

This is assuming that the tenant is honoring the terms of the lease, of course.

Their lease could be way below market rate.  If so, the landlord will likely try to raise the rate closer to market, which the tenant maybe can't afford.  Tenant leaves and blames the landlord.  It looks like Sunray is already laying the groundwork for that situation.  Same thing that happened to Southern Roots.  They were practically paying no rent to the prior landlord.  Buyer bought for market rate so needed market rate tenants.

Captain Zissou

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The building is definitely not getting demoed for a parking garage or any other structure. Sun-Ray is almost certainly getting booted by the new owners when their lease expires in a few months though.
Not talking about demo-ing anything.  You could wrap integrate new construction with the existing structures.  Would be tough to add structured parking with the theatre there, but could be doable.  Either that or somebody needs to buy the 3 acre block owned by Presbyterian Retirement Communities and make that a large mixed use development with structured parking with the 1st floor being public spaces.  Jacksonville has a lot of great retail strips, but without building out around them, eventually they stagnate and fall out of favor.  I'm older than this demo so i'm no expert, but to me it seems like Edgewood in Murray Hill has replaced King Street north of Forbes. An older crowd still goes to Dart Bar, Keg n Coin, and Riverside Liquors, but the north end of the street isn't what it was a decade ago.  Five points seems to be heading that way too.

jax_hwy_engineer

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... the landlord will likely try to raise the rate closer to market, which the tenant maybe can't afford.  Tenant leaves and blames the landlord.  It looks like Sunray is already laying the groundwork for that situation.

This was my thinking after all this settled down, too. Maybe they know they currently have a sweetheart deal but likely won't in the future.

Sucks when rent goes up, and it sucked to lose Southern Roots because I liked that place, but the rent goes up for everyone.

fsu813

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If I have a tenant taking up the anchor bay of the ground floor, and they are honoring the terms of the lease, why on earth would I want to force them out right after I buy the building?

Perhaps another tenant is already lined up...

thelakelander

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Perhaps they can't pay the rent already. That's a likely possibility not really being discussed in all the online hoopla.
"A man who views the world the same at 50 as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.” - Muhammad Ali

jaxlongtimer

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The new landlord is going to have a lot more invested in the property than the old one so, to achieve a market rate of return, they most certainly will have to raise any "grandfathered" rents.  And, if they invest further in upgrading or updating the building, they will expect increased rents to provide a market ROI on that too.  Otherwise, there is no incentive to do so.

Some landlords don't want to go through the hassle of pouring more dollars into a property either because of the effort, lack of funds or uncertainty of an appropriate ROI.  In return, the tenants live with a lower quality space and/or participate in the maintenance of the building.  This is a mixed blessing for the landlord as tenants are rarely going to maintain a space like the owner would.  Often, this leads to a continuing downward spiral for the property.  At some point, the landlord wants off this treadmill and sells to someone who is more willing to step up as a fully professional landlord.  But, again, this comes with increased rents, often driving out existing tenants.  For the new landlord, they would spell this out as "opportunity."

Tenants often forget the maxim, the rent pays for the property.  If it is too low, there is a day of reckoning.