MOTR, Woodward operator wants to reopen Emery Theatre

The group that opened MOTR Pub and renovated the Woodward Theater wants a shot to reopen another famous Over-the-Rhine entertainment venue — the Emery Theatre.

Dan McCabe, a partner with MOTR Group, said his company wants to have a shot at working with any current or new owner of the building to reopen the shuttered 1,700-seat theater. MOTR Group isn't connected to any entity that's prepared to make an offer on the building, McCabe said.

McCabe's comments come amid an ongoing legal battle involving the Requiem Group, the University of Cincinnati and managers of the 1112 Walnut St. building.

"Our angle is to expand our business and continue pushing Over-the-Rhine forward," McCabe said.

Four years ago, Requiem Group founders Tara Gordon and Cincinnati native Tina Manchise signed what they thought was a long-term deal with Emery Center Corp. to help raise money for the theater's redevelopment and organize programs there. But the Emery entity terminated the agreement in 2013, which resulted in Requiem's founders filing a lawsuit over the decision.

"We've never stopped watching or caring about the Emery," McCabe said in an interview with The Enquirer. "There are people in a position to come in and help move the project forward and they (potential buyers) need to understand there's other ways to operate that theater."

McCabe said he has had interest in reopening the theater since 2007 and he later joined Emery Center Corp.'s board to help steer the theater's future. The following year, McCabe produced the Cincinnati Entertainment Awards at the Emery Theatre to bring attention to the shuttered venue. In 2012, the Emery was the host site for three nights of events during the MidPoint Music Festival. He said all three dates were sold out.

His group developed a for-profit operating model that called for "robust usage," which meant planning a wide range of musical acts and activities at the venue. The theater would have opened initially without redeveloping 500 seats in the second balcony, leaving about 1,200 seats available.

Under the Requiem Project's proposal, a nonprofit entity would operate the venue as an arts center that would host live performances, show films, art galleries and serve as rehearsal space.

The Emery Center Corp.'s board ultimately picked Requiem's proposal, and McCabe later left the board. His group eventually opened the MOTR Pub and redeveloped the Woodward Theater on Main Street in Over-the-Rhine.

The Woodward opened four months ago, but McCabe said his operating group has been able to complete significant upgrades to the building via "bootstrapping," using cash generated from events and bookings to make improvements on the fly.

"Our proposal was to invest in things needed for an occupancy permit, a basic investment in mechanicals," he added. "Then fill the facility and take the revenue you make and then reinvest it."

But McCabe hasn't let the prospect of working on the Emery go. He said he suspects Requiem's founders had a hard time raising money for the project because it was difficult to convince potential donors they had a sustainable business model.

Sean Callan, an attorney for the Requiem Project, rejects that notion, and said his clients had $1 million from investors ready to put into the theater's redevelopment.

"While I recognize them as a good operator, there's no question about their ability, I don't believe under the terms of the Emery Trust today it is permissible," Callan said.

McCabe said it would be possible for the MOTR Group to create a nonprofit operating structure for the theater and the redevelopment effort.

When the Samuel Hannaford & Sons-designed Emery Theatre opened in 1911 inside the former Ohio Mechanics Institute building, it was considered one of the best concert halls in the country. The building was home to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for about 25 years.

The university gained control of the building in 1969 and later leased the building to Emery Center Apartments, which redeveloped the building's classrooms into apartments. Emery Center Apartments leased the theater space to the Emery Center Corp., a private foundation formed in 1988 to find ways to redevelop the venue.

The theater closed in 1999 after multiple plans to help fund renovations fell apart. A nearly $10 million redevelopment of the building and site completed in 2001 yielded about 60 apartments, interior parking, and commercial office and retail space.

Don Mooney, attorney for Emery Center Corp., accused Requiem of fraud and other charges in an answer to the group's lawsuit Friday. Mooney argued Gordon and Manchise falsely represented they had access to raising millions of dollars to support the theater's renovation. ECC said early estimates to reopen the theater were placed at $3 million, but a full renovation could cost another $23 million.

Callan said ECC's arguments are "a continuation of the strategy of these defendants to use legal and procedural roadblocks to preclude a full and fair hearing of our issues on their merits."

Reached Tuesday about the lawsuit, UC spokesman Greg Vehr said the university is continuing to try to find ways to work with the community to restore the theater. But it said that the university doesn't have a contractual relationship with Requiem Project and never has had one.