The Hatbox Theatre has received notice that it has to vacate its space at the Steeplegate Mall by mid-March in what the founder describes as an unpleasant surprise.
“I have shows scheduled through August. … I was at Hatbox until 9 o’clock last night doing lighting for a show that opens Friday,” Andrew Pinard said Monday. “For us to come through a pandemic, only to receive notification that I have 30 days to empty out the theater, also empty out the space using for storage and rehearsal space … is hard to believe.”
A Feb. 11 letter from Steeplegate Mall Realty, a subsidiary of New York-based commercial realty firm Namdar Realty Group, says the theater must vacate the mall by March 13 or be evicted. It gives no reason for the notice, saying that under the theater’s license the mall can give 30-day notice “at any time … in its sole discretion without cause or reason.”
It does not appear that other stores in the mall received similar notices.
Pinard said he had responded to the email address on the letter, the only contact information given, but had not heard back as of Monday afternoon. Namdar owns 59 shopping malls around the country, including one in Maine and two in Connecticut, and many shopping centers, office buildings and other commercial sites.
The Hatbox Theatre moved into the former Coldwater Creek store in 2016, and was the first of several non-retail businesses that moved into Steeplegate Mall to replace an exodus of stores. It also uses the former Radio Stack space for storage and rehearsal. It puts on plays, comedy nights, magic shows and other theatrical events in a space that had 92 seats before pandemic restrictions hit.
“It’s been a very positive thing for us, being here. We have grown every year up until the pandemic,” Pinard said. “At no point did I expect the mall is going to shut down things.”
“I just spent $10,000 on HVAC upgrades, adding UV filtration,” he said.
Pinard declined to say how much he pays in rent but said that utilities have jumped this winter, with the December-January bill totaling $7,500, roughly twice past winters.
Pinard noted that the letter was dated three days after the Monitor reported that city leaders say they have been frustrated in attempts to redefine the mall by an intransigent ownership that has not participated in discussions.
“It seems coincidental that a big story comes out and all of a sudden we get an eviction notice,” he said.
Pinard said regular coverage about the mall’s difficulties don’t help.
“The city in the past has been very negative about the mall, and the paper has been negative about the mall. … It has an adverse effect to people who have businesses at the mall. People assume the mall is dead,” he said.
Another recent Monitor story reported that less than 10 of the original 60 storefronts at the mall are currently occupied.
Steeplegate Mall opened in 1990, during a boom in construction of new retail space around the country. Like many malls, it has struggled increasingly in recent years and seen most of its stores, including two anchor tenants – Sears and Bon Ton – close shop.
The play “The Lifespan of a Fact” opens at Hatbox Theatre on Friday.
