Ansonia signs $1 lease for opera house, plans ‘amazing’ new venue
ANSONIA — The inside is dusty, grimy and in disrepair, but if the city has its way, the Ansonia Opera House will once again be a destination spot.
“In terms of where we want to go, it’s basically bring that opera house back as a social entertainment venue in a new way for the city,” corporation counsel John Marini said. “We think it will be an amazing enhancement, and amazing bonus for Main Street and Ansonia.”
The city signed a lease with the co-owner, Walter Kendzierski on March 21 in one of the offices on the property. The signed lease won’t do much yet, though, because the city now must conduct inspections to see how much work the structure needs. Once that is complete, finding the funds to carry out the work is the next challenge.
But when complete, the opera house will attract visitors and be profitable for the city as it continues with its Main Street economic revitalization program, Marini said. He added the time was perfect to return the opera house to its former glory.
“I thought, hey, it’s now or never with Main Street taking off,” he said. “You see downtown, they’re adding apartments. If we don’t act, it’s either going to be apartments and lose the opera house or it’s going to be take action and see what we can do.”
The lease runs until the year 2052 at a rate of $1 per month to Kendzierski and his family who jointly own the property. The lease also includes language that the city will apply for grants to help rehabilitate the property and restore it and makes the city financially responsible for utilities and upkeep.
Taxes on the property will remain fixed at its 2022 assessment, and the owners will receive an annual tax credit of $3,000.
Mayor David Cassetti said the opera house has been an outlier on Main Street for the past two decades as businesses have opened around it and the downtown area is beginning to rebound.
Once renovated, the property will be an asset to the city, Cassetti said.
“I mean with our economic boom that’s occurring here in Ansonia on Main Street all our store fronts are being filled up,” he said. “This is the last parcel that we’d like to get remediated and cleaned up and get to show some profit for us.”
The opera house dates back to 1870, according to the historic CT buildings website. For decades it hosted performances, dances, recitals, graduations, boxing matches and more before it closed to public gatherings in 1971. In later years it housed offices, a gym and was used for storage.
Today, the building is not open to the public, but there are some reminders of its former uses, including an old sign for a dentist office hung above one of the offices and a sign advertising drumming lessons for Al Gardella Drum Studios, which closed in the 1980s.
Kendzierski bought the property at auction along with his family in 1983, he said. The sale price was $46,000, plus $7,000 in back taxes owed on the property.
He said the rejuvenated opera house could be the catalyst for Main Street.
“I’m excited. This is the best thing that ever happened so far. And it’s a good thing for the city,” he said. “The city has to make this some kind of entertainment center, somewhere people are going to gather.”
Marini said when he was an alderman, he tried to get the city to help with the costs for renovation, which are likely to be significant.
Cassetti estimated the cost to refurbish the building at around $2.5 million.
Economic Development Director Sheila O’Malley said the city needs to have an assessment done to better plan the next steps.
Marini added there are likely environmental issues to address.
“It’s not a question of, is there an environmental issue? It’s a question of what is the extent of that issue,” he said.
Anthony Mullin, the owner of East Coast Photography, has taken photos inside the opera house and while the building is in disrepair, the photos have been popular with clients. Similarly dilapidated buildings have grown in popularity on social media over the last decade, he said.
He’s happy to see the opera house get a new lease on life, and is one of the people tapped to become a member of the city’s planned opera house commission.
“Instead of it getting trashed and vandalized, like some of these places end up getting, this is actually going to flourish, and it’s going to look nice, and it’s going to be good,” he said. “I’m happy to actually be a part of something that’s not going to end up getting demolished.”
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