Real estate

Here we go again

By Sam Pfeifle

In an eerie replay of last spring’s Oak Street Theatre ousting by corporate interests, more Oak Street arts and community institutions may soon be forced out of their current homes.

Though the sale won’t become final until the end of this month, Portland’s Landmark America has agreed in principal to sell the building at 100 Oak Street to Portland’s Commercial Properties through Dick McGoldrick.

That property is currently home to both the Community Television Network, channels 2 and 4, and the Maine Photo Co-op, an organization that provides amateur and professional photographers access to equipment and furnishes the city with important shows of photography. Mary Jo Steckevicz, co-op director, is concerned that despite their current two-year lease, the co-op is in jeopardy because “the prospect of securing, renovating, and transferring the co-op’s elaborate equipment to a new location is daunting.”

Aprile Gallant, co-op board member, is equally concerned, saying that her “understanding is that [Commercial Properties] already have a good line on a tenant,” and that “we have a two-year lease, but they would prefer that we leave right away.”

McGoldrick was “too busy” to comment, then promptly left for “a week in Germany,” according to his secretary.

Noting that the co-op is not in as dire straits financially as it has been in the past, Gallant says also that “now might be the time to relocate, rethink, and regroup, because we’re going to have to leave eventually.”

Co-op co-founder Morgan Howarth is a tad more optimistic. He’s “hoping that somebody will absorb us,” and they’ve been talking to local schools about relocating on to a college campus. He reiterated that the co-op is looking for donations of money, time, and organizational resources to get through this time of transition. He did not seem to think that his was the end of the co-op, however.

Tom Handel, executive director of the Community Television Network, is convinced that their current lease will stand up. “We have an option to renew our lease for another three years as of July 2001,” he says. “So we pretty much intend to do that.” However, he admits that they’re already considering plans for a move when 2004 rolls around. “I understand,” he says, “that they want the space eventually.”