Though no date has been set, the Columbia Theatre will go up for auction

Pamela Voisey, executive director of Columbia Theatre, Inc., said the board decided at a Tuesday night meeting to auction off the building.

"We've been struggling with this for the past two years," Mrs. Voisey said of the renovation project. "It wasn't a decision that came too lightly. It took a lot of discussions about what our options were.

"We talked about stopping the project and talked about working with other organizations. We don't have any prospects that are viable," she said.

In the past year the theatre group has shifted its focus from restoring the downtown Sharon building to programming. Volunteers helped to complete some of the renovation project but now professional workers are needed and money has run out, she said.

Mrs. Voisey said the board of directors felt putting the theatre up for auction "keeps everyone on a level playing field." She said anyone who wants the theater will have an equal chance to buy it.

The nonprofit theater group is not expecting to make a profit on the sale of the building, Mrs. Voisey said. The purchaser would have to pay off some "very minimal" debt, she said. "It's more in terms of some expenditures made prior to the decision not to go forward with the project."

"It is a shame but if there's a private individual who can take the project and run with it ... . Our goal is to see the project move forward. We obviously aren't the people to do it," Mrs. Voisey said.

Bob Crosby, director of the Vocal Group Hall of Fame and Museum in Sharon, said he thinks the vocal group is the organization to make the renovations happen.

"It just seems really wild," Crosby said of the impending auction. "Why would they want to auction it when we had such a need and purpose for it right here in town?"

Crosby said vocal hall officials have met with the theatre group about taking over the project but have not been able to come to an agreement.

"I don't know where else to go with it," Crosby said. "We met, talked to their attorney, and they kept talking about us making an offer."

Crosby said he offered the theatre group $1 for the building. "Tony (Butala) bought it once. Why should he have to buy it again?"

Butala, a Sharon native and Lettermen frontman, purchased the theatre at a tax auction in 1984 for $10,000 and turned the building over to the theatre group. The building had been closed since a 1981 fire destroyed the entrance in an adjacent building.

Mrs. Voisey said the theatre group and vocal hall officials met about four to six weeks ago. "They wanted us to give them the building, our 501(c)3 [non-profit] status and dissolve our board of directors," Mrs. Voisey said.

The board plans to continue to produce theatre programs for children and adults, she said.

Crosby said the vocal group is in a position to take over expenses for the theatre, and he doesn't understand why the theatre group won't just turn the building over.

If the vocal group could gain control of the theatre, Crosby said the plan is to get the building up to code and then host fund-raising concerts to pay for the rest of the renovations.

Theatre officials have already spent about $700,000 on physical improvements and estimate the complete job will cost $4 million.

You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Kristen Garrett at kgarrett@sharon-herald.com