Following the exit of its former managing director, the Gillioz Theatre is auditioning a management group led by a team of Springfield entrepreneurs.
English Management - led by business partners Paul Sundy, Randy Gildehaus and Michael Heslin - came on Sept. 1 for a 90-day contract with the theater. The group is taking on a similar role to that of former Managing Director Michael Owens, who left his position with the Gillioz in August to take a management position with the Tulsa Convention Center in Tulsa, Okla., according to Phil Rothschild, president of Gillioz owner Springfield Landmarks Preservation Trust and its governing group Gillioz Restoration Partnership LP.
"Paul and his team are taking on the role and responsibility of booking events and creating events for the Gillioz Theatre for at least 90 days with options to continue on or not," Rothschild said, noting options would be explored when the contract ends Nov. 30. "At the end of that 90-day period, if we decide we don't want to continue on with them, they'll stay on with us as a stopgap measure ... until we do find somebody, so that we can find somebody that's perfectly suited if they were not perfectly suited."
Rothschild said English Management has introduced an increased emphasis on participating in First Friday events and brought a business-minded approach to the role.
"While we are not-for-profit, we're still trying to run as efficiently and effectively as any organization would want to," he said. "They provide some good experience and some energy, and also they understand that you've got to have events at the Gillioz Theatre in order for people to become aware of it and also for it to generate revenue that will keep it consistently meeting its budget."
English Management also manages three Big Whiskey’s American Bar and Grill eateries and two Dublin’s Pass Irish Pub locations, according to Sundy.
About two weeks ago, Sundy and five partners - Heslin, Gildehaus, Jame Clark, Matt Sumners and Matty Kaetano - opened a second Springfield location of Dublin’s Pass at 317 Park Central East. The group rents the property that is adjacent to the Gillioz and formerly housed Jekyll & Hyde nightclub from the the Springfield Landmarks Preservation Trust.
Sundy, Heslin, Gildehaus and Clark also own three Big Whiskey’s locations in town that Kaetano manages, including a nearby location on Park Central East, according to
Springfield Business Journal archives.
Sundy and three business partners are planning a Nov. 1 opening of the third location of Parlor 88 Lounge & Eatery on Park Central East. The bar will take the place of Fedora Social House, which closed after its final weekend Sept. 28-30, Sundy said. He noted that the downstairs cigar bar Opus Club will remain open.
Sundy, who is part of both ownership groups for Parlor 88 and Fedora, said he wore two hats when the Parlor side made an offer to the Fedora group to buy out the location.
"We believe in downtown. We always have," Sundy said of his and his partners' views on managing businesses in center city. "When it's all said and done, we're just planning more."
Sundy said he also has a role in the projected January opening of a Park Central East bar tentatively called Vintage Nightclub along with Gildehaus and Jay Hickman, co-owner of Ernie Biggs piano bar. The three share a downtown office on McDaniel Street.
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