Rochelle Hub Theater

[logansryche]

1.How much is insurance, heating and electricity?
2.When was the last safety check performed?
3.How is the structural integrity of the building?
4.Are you going to commission a structural survey?
5.What are the business taxes on the property?
6.Have you factored in employee costs?
7.What is the size of the theatre?
8.Have you checked to see if your $2000 projector can fill the space?
9.What sound system are you going to use?
10.Have you considered how you will be able to legally show movies?
11.Have you considered the work involved regarding licensing?
12.Have you factored anything towards advertising?
13.How will the theatre business be set up for tax purposes?
14.Why did the theatre go out of business? If it was a loss making concern, what are you going to do different to cover those losses?

1.0, not sure,not sure.
2.Safety check was done in 2000 sometime, don't have the details of it however.
3.The structure is good from what pictures I saw, nothing was rusted or rotted... the brickwork looked good.
   I also emailed a friend of mine that lives there in Rochelle to see if she'll go take more pics for me or
   possibly a video since I can't quite do that myself.
4.No
5.3800 annualy
6.yes
7.1500 sqft(66x124')
8.yes, I checked with a screen guide for a few projectors. The Epson I choose is the cheaper version of the $22k Christie that does the same thing.
9.JVC(their in the list)
10.I have and it's something I have to talk to Ogle county about reguarding theaters, but it's an extra part of the occupational license.
11.yes
12.No, but Rochelle's small and word gets around pretty fast
13.Well since it'll be a first run theater, it'll be set up like any other theater. This might change if I decide to go second run, depending.
14. No idea. I spoke with the current realtor, and then the previous realtor, and no one knew but from what I gather, when the theater switched hands in '96(that's when they split the main theater into 2 and closed in the balcony), the owners were never able to keep the theater up to date(the worn carpet and chairs show). I'm pretty sure what's there is still an analog projector, but what confuses me is that the last show there was Iron Man 2. That had to have brought in people, unless people were tired of looking at a worn theater.

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[rainingbitcoins]

1500 sqft(66x124')

I give up.

[logansryche]

1500 sqft(66x124')

I give up.
[/quote]

Sorry, but thanks for catching it. That's a typo, it's 15000 sqft.
Look at the page yourself if you don't believe me
http://www.coldwellbankeronline.com/property/details/2252210/MLS-07887170/416-Lincoln-Highway-Rochelle-IL-61068.aspx?IsRegularPS=True&RowNum=15&StateID=19&RegionID=0&SearchID=4628028

[rainingbitcoins]

According to that listing, the 66'x124' you claimed as the size of the theater is actually the size of the parking lot.

I really don't think you're cut out for this.

[logansryche]

According to that listing, the 66'x124' you claimed as the size of the theater is actually the size of the parking lot.

I really don't think you're cut out for this.

No, parking is not part of the lot. Parking is behind the building and is shared between 2 other business' on that corner.

[rainingbitcoins]

No, parking is not part of the lot. Parking is behind the building and is shared between 2 other business' on that corner.

Just as the listing says, a common parking lot.

66'x123.75' is 8167 sq. feet. It would be really hard to fit a 15,000 sq. foot business on that.

[repentance]

Hang me for my past and get it over with.. another thing I distaste is people who hold others for their past(and it's only this forum that does it). I only come here because there's only one main bitcoin forum.

I'm not hanging you for your past.  The questions that I asked are relevant to how viable your project will be.  Have you even checked whether you can legally solicit donations for this project.  In some places you can't do that for a private, for profit venture but a community group which registered as a legal entity would be able to do it.

People thinking something is a good idea doesn't necessarily make a project viable and sustainable.  People might want a local theatre but would they attend it often enough for operating it to be viable?  Have you checked into whether the cost for you to show films will be based on the seating capacity of the theatre, a flat licence fee for a set period of time, a set number of sessions, or some other method?

Before you even start raising money for this project, you need to go and have a look at the building.  You have no idea at this point what condition it's actually in and trying to gauge that from photos is a bad idea.

If you're saving $500 every two weeks, that will only give you about $13,000 in twelve months.  That leaves a hell of a lot more money which you need to raise and you're basically asking people to give you money in order for you -personally - to buy and own the theatre.  

Have you thought about the level of donation for which you're going to give "free movie tickets for life"?  You need to because every free ticket is income you're foregoing and you're going to need the majority of your patrons to be paying customers in order to meet your overheads, let alone to provide you and your fiance with any income.

If this was my project, these and the various building related issues (you're seriously not going to get any kind of inspection report done on the building before you buy it?) would all be part of my feasibility study.  If the previous owners didn't have the money to tart the place up then there's every chance that the building and/or the equipment has been neglected in other ways and if there are safety compliance issues or structural integrity issues you need to know about them before you even consider buying the property.  You don't want to scrounge together the money to buy the property only to find that it needs a lot more than just a cosmetic face lift and not have the funds to bring it up to scratch.

Are you sure that the $2000 Epson projector is digital cinema quality and that the screen at the theatre is compatible with that format?

On the downside, the initial costs for converting theaters to digital are high: $150,000 per screen on average. Theaters have been reluctant to switch without a cost-sharing arrangement with film distributors. A solution is a temporary Virtual Print Fee system, where the distributor (who saves the money of producing and transporting a physical copy) pays a fee per copy to help finance the digital systems of the theaters.[13]
While a theater can purchase a film projector for US$50,000 and expect an average life of 30–40 years, a digital cinema playback system including server/media block/and projector can cost 3–4 times as much, and is at higher risk for component failures and technological obsolescence.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_cinema#Costs

The ad says that the theatre equipment is included in the $175,000 purchase price but it also says that everything is for sale AS-IS.  You'd need to establish the condition of the equipment and whether it needs any money spent on it - if there's something wrong with some of the equipment you could be up for serious money to repair or replace it.

[logansryche]

No, parking is not part of the lot. Parking is behind the building and is shared between 2 other business' on that corner.

Just as the listing says, a common parking lot.

66'x123.75' is 8167 sq. feet. It would be really hard to fit a 15,000 sq. foot business on that.

Not really, a single level building listed at 8167 sqft x2 floors comes out to 16,334 sqft. I think that ad is wrong in the total area being 15,000 sqft.

Hang me for my past and get it over with.. another thing I distaste is people who hold others for their past(and it's only this forum that does it). I only come here because there's only one main bitcoin forum.

I'm not hanging you for your past.  The questions that I asked are relevant to how viable your project will be.  Have you even checked whether you can legally solicit donations for this project.  In some places you can't do that for a private, for profit venture but a community group which registered as a legal entity would be able to do it.

People thinking something is a good idea doesn't necessarily make a project viable and sustainable.  People might want a local theatre but would they attend it often enough for operating it to be viable?  Have you checked into whether the cost for you to show films will be based on the seating capacity of the theatre, a flat licence fee for a set period of time, a set number of sessions, or some other method?

Before you even start raising money for this project, you need to go and have a look at the building.  You have no idea at this point what condition it's actually in and trying to gauge that from photos is a bad idea.

If you're saving $500 every two weeks, that will only give you about $13,000 in twelve months.  That leaves a hell of a lot more money which you need to raise and you're basically asking people to give you money in order for you -personally - to buy and own the theatre. 

Have you thought about the level of donation for which you're going to give "free movie tickets for life"?  You need to because every free ticket is income you're foregoing and you're going to need the majority of your patrons to be paying customers in order to meet your overheads, let alone to provide you and your fiance with any income.

If this was my project, these and the various building related issues (you're seriously not going to get any kind of inspection report done on the building before you buy it?) would all be part of my feasibility study.  If the previous owners didn't have the money to tart the place up then there's every chance that the building and/or the equipment has been neglected in other ways and if there are safety compliance issues or structural integrity issues you need to know about them before you even consider buying the property.  You don't want to scrounge together the money to buy the property only to find that it needs a lot more than just a cosmetic face lift and not have the funds to bring it up to scratch.

Are you sure that the $2000 Epson projector is digital cinema quality and that the screen at the theatre is compatible with that format?

On the downside, the initial costs for converting theaters to digital are high: $150,000 per screen on average. Theaters have been reluctant to switch without a cost-sharing arrangement with film distributors. A solution is a temporary Virtual Print Fee system, where the distributor (who saves the money of producing and transporting a physical copy) pays a fee per copy to help finance the digital systems of the theaters.[13]
While a theater can purchase a film projector for US$50,000 and expect an average life of 30–40 years, a digital cinema playback system including server/media block/and projector can cost 3–4 times as much, and is at higher risk for component failures and technological obsolescence.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_cinema#Costs

The ad says that the theatre equipment is included in the $175,000 purchase price but it also says that everything is for sale AS-IS.  You'd need to establish the condition of the equipment and whether it needs any money spent on it - if there's something wrong with some of the equipment you could be up for serious money to repair or replace it.

I think your responses have been the best ones and comments weren't aimed at you. In responding to your quesitons, the epson projector will throw a picture at 50 feet(which isn't far) but the christie projector i was looking at casted the same after buying an additional lense. If I had the additional cash, I'd buy christie projectors just for name sake. I got an email back from my friend and she said she's going to go shoot pictures for me so I'll get a better understanding of everything. The ones on that coldwellbanker site were taken by the realtor.

[rainingbitcoins]

Ah shit, you're right. My bad. Still, I'm reasonably sure that none of this is ever going to happen for the reasons mentioned by basically everyone in this thread. Most notably the fact that you're settingaside $500 a month for a $350,000 purchase that will probably end up costing even more than that.

If I had the additional cash,

You don't have any cash.

[logansryche]

Ah shit, you're right. My bad. Still, I'm reasonably sure that none of this is ever going to happen for the reasons mentioned by basically everyone in this thread. Most notably the fact that you're settingaside $500 a month for a $350,000 purchase that will probably end up costing even more than that.

Maybe, maybe not but I guess that's what the point of donations are.

[rainingbitcoins]

I think you missed the part of his post where collecting donations for a for-profit business venture is a tricky thing legally that you should probably look into.

[repentance]

I think your responses have been the best ones and comments weren't aimed at you. In responding to your quesitons, the epson projector will throw a picture at 50 feet(which isn't far) but the christie projector i was looking at casted the same after buying an additional lense. If I had the additional cash, I'd buy christie projectors just for name sake. I got an email back from my friend and she said she's going to go shoot pictures for me so I'll get a better understanding of everything. The ones on that coldwellbanker site were taken by the realtor.

One thing you really, really need to find out from the real estate agent is what type of screens the theatre has.  Once you have that information, then you can find out whether the existing screens will be compatible with the Epson projectors.  Don't assume that they will be - this is information about which you need to be absolutely certain.  And if the real estate agent doesn't have that information then you need to either run very fast, demand that they obtain it, or be willing to pay someone who knows about this stuff to go to the theatre and check out the existing equipment and advise you of any limitations it may impose.

[logansryche]

I think your responses have been the best ones and comments weren't aimed at you. In responding to your quesitons, the epson projector will throw a picture at 50 feet(which isn't far) but the christie projector i was looking at casted the same after buying an additional lense. If I had the additional cash, I'd buy christie projectors just for name sake. I got an email back from my friend and she said she's going to go shoot pictures for me so I'll get a better understanding of everything. The ones on that coldwellbanker site were taken by the realtor.

One thing you really, really need to find out from the real estate agent is what type of screens the theatre has.  Once you have that information, then you can find out whether the existing screens will be compatible with the Epson projectors.  Don't assume that they will be - this is information about which you need to be absolutely certain.  And if the real estate agent doesn't have that information then you need to either run very fast, demand that they obtain it, or be willing to pay someone who knows about this stuff to go to the theatre and check out the existing equipment and advise you of any limitations it may impose.

I'll add it to the list of questions for my friend for when she goes.

[repentance]

Are you planning on actually going to inspect the property yourself before you put in an offer (don't pay $175,000 - it was listed for $215,000 earlier this year and they'll probably drop the price further if they're not overwhelmed with potential buyers)?  If you buy it, will you be physically present to oversee the renovations or will you have to hire someone to do that?

[logansryche]

Are you planning on actually going to inspect the property yourself before you put in an offer (don't pay $175,000 - it was listed for $215,000 earlier this year and they'll probably drop the price further if they're not overwhelmed with potential buyers)?  If you buy it, will you be physically present to oversee the renovations or will you have to hire someone to do that?

Yeah I hope the price goes lower, but then again as I've said, i'm in no rush to get it giving pleanty of time to gather funds. As for the second part, I would be physically there to oversee the renovations.

[repentance]

Are you planning on actually going to inspect the property yourself before you put in an offer (don't pay $175,000 - it was listed for $215,000 earlier this year and they'll probably drop the price further if they're not overwhelmed with potential buyers)?  If you buy it, will you be physically present to oversee the renovations or will you have to hire someone to do that?

Yeah I hope the price goes lower, but then again as I've said, i'm in no rush to get it giving pleanty of time to gather funds. As for the second part, I would be physically there to oversee the renovations.

If the price drops someone else may buy the building, gut it and use it for a totally different purpose unless there's some zoning regulation which says that it can only be used as a theatre (if there is, it should have been mentioned in the ad).

[logansryche]

Something bothers me far more than any of the factual and spot-on criticisms regarding a total lack of due diligence to financial or construction planning-- why would anyone post this shit on Bitcointalk if they were serious about it?

possible donation outlet? Well that was my goal for posting it here anyhow.

If the price drops someone else may buy the building, gut it and use it for a totally different purpose unless there's some zoning regulation which says that it can only be used as a theatre (if there is, it should have been mentioned in the ad).

I have no idea to be honest. I know it's a historic building, but it's not on any registry anywhere... thing was built in the 30s as Rochelle's first and only movie house. If the price does go lower and someone buys it, I'm sunk, of course I do have a backup plan if that ever happens.

[rainingbitcoins]

What's the backup plan?

[logansryche]

Welcome to the present, logansryche.

Nobody tries to get $250,000 to "help out" anymore. In the eyes of the hive-mind you're either a scammer or incompetent. If you're just incompetent, then this thread will be your free education. Try not to argue with it.

Uhm... next.

[logansryche]

Uhm... crowdfunding? Uhm... actual proof of intent? Uhm... life is not a free spirited adventure and you have to play the game if you expect to win anything?

Uhm...

Life is what you make of it, sorry it was too hard for you. If I were a scammer, I'd be gone by now.