Hope for Oxford Landmark After All
It stands cold and empty, its marquee blank and its seats unwarmed. The Princess 4 Theater in Uptown Oxford’s Historic District has been closed since November 25th, 2012, and now, at long last, it may have a future ahead of it.
The Princess closed its doors almost a year ago when Alliance Entertainment sold 25 of of the company’s 26 theaters to Tennessee-based Regal Entertainment Group. “The owner thought they had a ‘White Elephant’ on their hands. Old theater, in an old downtown, in a small town. Theaters tend to be harder building to reuse as something else,” City of Oxford Economic Development Director Alan Kyger explained.
In mid-November of last year, Alliance Entertainment offered to donate the theater to the city as a tax write-off. However, by the time the city accepted the donation in the beginning of December, Alliance Entertainment had decided that they would still donate the theater, but they would need $200,000 for the furniture, fixtures, and equipment. The City of Oxford ultimately decided they weren’t comfortable with this, and refused the offer.
The loss of the the local landmark prompted a reaction from the community that was as swift as it was indignant. Upon the news of the theater’s impending closure, a Facebook page titled “Save the Princess Theater” quickly received over five hundred “likes” and now has 1,476. “Working here was the greatest experience I have ever had,” Emily Starr commented on the page. “Knowing I was one of the last people to be in this building and one of the last employees here, is going to leave a heaviness on my heart that I don’t think will ever go away.”
“Having a movie theater in uptown Oxford is beneficial for the middle and high school students of our community declared Eva Fisher-Reich in a speech to the Oxford City Council on December 4th, 2012, which she gave with Talawanda students Noah Levy, Devra Levy, and Maddy Abowitz. “It provides us with a safe and accessible location where we can spend time with our peers, develop a sense of community, and enjoy the advantages of living in a diverse and thriving Oxford.”
Yet despite the community’s efforts, the Princess remained closed until the end of September of this year, when the ownership group of Matt Rodbro, Lindsay Meyers and Ted Wood purchased the land, building, and fixtures. “We purchased the theater because we care about Oxford and about the success of Uptown. We also share an affinity for the theater and for its historic nature. I saw my first movie at the theater as a child. As a group, we saw an opportunity to purchase a formerly beloved business that had become superannuated and needed a reboot,” Rodbro told me in an interview.
Rodbro plans to update the four theater spaces to include new seating and digital projection. The concessions will be drastically enhanced and will include new food options. We hope to expand and renovate the entire building and to restore the façade and box office to its former elegance,” Rodbro informed me. “We want to create a ‘wow factor’ that is representative of the historical prominence of Uptown Oxford.”
The theater also hopes to offer a different range of movies, including a mix of independent and classic films and foreign movies.
The news prompted a groundswell of positive reaction from the community. “Wonderful!” commented Donna Cheshire on a post on the theater’s Facebook page regarding the theater’s reopening. “I remember walking Uptown to see a film. I’ll be in line to see the first film in our old beauty!” It seems Cheshire will not be the only one.
