Theatre Off Jackson Not Buying Eagles Building

The cool folks at Theatre Off Jackson will not be buying the Eagles Aerie #1 building in Georgetown. From this afternoon's e-mail:

Hello Neighbors,

It is with much sadness that we make this announcement. Theatre Off
Jackson is no longer pursuing the purchase of the Eagles Building.

As many of you know, the Theatre Off Jackson (TOJ) has wanted to
relocate or expand to Georgetown ever since Patti and I moved to the
neighborhood 2 years ago. When the Eagles property at the corner of
Michigan and Corson became available last summer, we saw an
opportunity to make our dream a reality.

With much help, we pulled together a team to win the bidding
competition and successfully contracted to purchase the property in
November. In the last several months, we completed our review of
the building and all of the legal details associated with it. We
have also been making efforts to raise funds for the purchase and
have attempted to negotiate with others interested in sharing the
property with us.

We are very sorry to announce that TOJ has not been able to secure
the necessary funding to move forward with the purchase of the
Eagles property. Despite our best efforts, this particular project
proved to be too ambitious for an organization of our size.

We are still committed to owning a home in Georgetown, and will
regroup to build support before seeking out another property. Of
course we are incredibly disappointed that we could not secure that
particular corner for both the theater community and the
neighborhood. A non-profit arts organization would have been an
exciting addition to Georgetown and, we think, a great asset to the
community.

On behalf of TOJ's staff and Board of Directors, we offer a
heartfelt thank you to everyone who has offered support and
donations. Special thanks go to Sabey Corporation (especially Jim
Harmon) for being so generous with their time and mentorship. Their
contributions are invaluable, and we consider ourselves extremely
fortunate to have received their advice and guidance. We are also
grateful for the efforts of Kathy Nyland (of Georgetown), Keri Healy
(of Printer's Devil Theater) and Robin Tomazic (of Remax): all
offered their time and talents to make this project happen.

We have learned much and come farther than we could have imagined a
year ago, and have contributed to the much needed city-wide
discussion about preserving arts space for small organizations. We
look forward to helping solve this issue in the future – by securing
a permanent home for the countless independent arts groups that are
using TOJ and creating a permanent addition to Georgetown to nurture
theater and community.

Thank you,
Amanda Slepski
Theatre Off Jackson