Following news that the State Theater's owners submitted a proposal to Ann Arbor's Historic District Commission to convert the second-floor theater into office space – one of three possible plans for the space – the Michigan Theater launched a Save the State Theater campaign.

And on Wednesday, December 4, administrators of the campaign's Facebook page posted this message: "We just heard from Jill Thatcher at the Historic District Commission. The State Theater application to the HDC has been withdrawn by the owners and is no longer on the 12/12 meeting agenda."

Thatcher confirmed the news via email. "The owners of the State Theater did withdraw their application," she said. "I'm not going to speculate on why. … They did state that they might reapply in the future, which they have the right to do since the application was withdrawn before the Historic District Commission made a decision on it."

Michigan Theater executive director and CEO Russ Collins said, during a brief phone interview, "There's nothing more to tell at this point, other than it looks like the owners are willing to talk to us."

"We had offered this to the Michigan for the last six years," Jim Chaconas, a member of the ownership group The State Theater LLC, wrote in an email. "We were surprised about the comments (from the community) about the theater being converted."

Jenn McKee is an entertainment reporter for The Ann Arbor News. Reach her at jennmckee@mlive.com or 734-623-2546, and follow her on Twitter @jennmckee.