Gillioz managers secure Prime buyer

Trucking magnate Robert Low knows how to swiftly move goods coast to coast. On Nov. 21, the Prime Inc. owner made a swift move in his own backyard, buying the downtown Gillioz Theatre a day before it was headed into foreclosure.

The Nov. 22 scheduled foreclosure sale was the second time in three years lender Guaranty Bank had initiated a trustee’s sale of the Netters-Gillioz building, 325 Park Central East, only to call off the public auctions.

Low, the latest to rescue the theater and owner of Springfield-based trucking company Prime, as well as the Palace Casino in Biloxi, Miss., agreed to lease back the theater to the nonprofit Springfield Landmarks Preservation Trust, which had owned the building and managed the property since it reopened seven years ago. Terms of the purchase were not disclosed, but Gillioz officials said the lease agreement would significantly reduce the trust’s $14,000 monthly mortgage payment. Landmarks trust officials declined to disclose lease details but said the agreements with other tenants in the Netters-Gillioz Building – Ozarks Technical Community College, Dublin’s Pass Irish Pub and Dining by Design – are not slated to change. Low was unavailable for comment by press time.

Theater operations will continue under the management of the trust, which comprises board members Philip Rothschild, board president and director of the entertainment management program at Missouri State University; Dave Roling, Springfield division manager for Emery Sapp & Sons Inc.; John Housley, attorney with Lowther Johnson Attorneys at Law LLC; and Bill Dunton, a partner with Abacus CPAs LLC.

The ornate entertainment venue had been scheduled for a Nov. 15 foreclosure auction before the public sale was postponed as trust board members worked behind the scenes to find a buyer.

“(Low’s) role was one of coming forward with the capital to enable this transaction to occur,” board Vice President Roling said at a Nov. 22 news conference on the second floor of the 1,300-seat Gillioz. “I think he had enough confidence in Bill Dunton and (their) business relationship (as well as) the composition of this board, that he’s willing to be hands-off and let the management of this theater and the programming that we do here carry forward.”

Nancy Dornan, a visionary for the Gillioz restoration who was honored by the state in 2007 for her downtown preservation work, breathed a sigh of relief for the theater management.

“I was glad to see the financial millstone removed from the neck of that organization,” said Dornan, the former president of the trust who is no longer involved. “Now, the theater has the opportunity to focus its energy on programming, maintenance – on the things a theater needs to do rather than always being under the shadow of crushing debt service.”

Elise Crain, project manager for the $10 million, 15-year restoration effort that ended in 2006 and former president of the Springfield Landmarks Preservation Trust, said she was alarmed to hear about the potential fate of the theater.

“I sure hope they continue because I am involved in an organization, Women in Need of the Ozarks, and we are going to have a concert event there on Dec. 7,” Crain said ahead of Low’s acquisition.

Other than the $4.7 million owed to Guaranty Bank, nobody was owed more than Crain three years ago when Gillioz operators filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. According to court documents, Crain invested more than $133,000 into the Gillioz, but she wasn’t the only creditor: Guy and Dorothy Mace were owed $40,000; the city of Springfield, $20,000; Jim D. Morris, $15,000; and Rothschild, $5,000.

At the Nov. 22 news conference, Rothschild thanked many of those who had donated money and time to the trust through the years.

Crain said Guaranty Bank’s 2006 loan was needed to cover renovation expenses that weren’t met through donations or other means – the Gillioz has benefited from some $268,000 in tax funds from the city’s hotel-motel tax.  

“We expected to repay (Guaranty) with tax credits,” Crain said, noting the trust did not realize until 2006 that state historic credits were only available to for-profit organizations, which is why it formed for-profit management group Netters-Gillioz Inc. that year. However, the state would only offer credits for renovations made after the for-profit’s formation, making paying back the rare lease loan more difficult than originally thought.
   
At the trust’s news conference, Roling said the mortgage payments were steep and eventually became too much of a burden.

“Our budget is no different than your household budget … and that became challenging after awhile,” Roling said. “This is not an easy business. On this board, we have a (certified public accountant), an attorney, a department head and a (construction manager). This is a tough, tough business.”

With Low as landlord, making ends meet should come easier, the board members said.

They cited an average 59 percent increase in programming revenue during each of the past five years, as well as quadrupling events from 2009, when there were only 19 held, Rothschild said.

He compared the trust’s efforts to that of a baseball team’s pitching staff.

“Dave Roling, in my view, was our starting pitcher. He delivered many pitches to possible boards, tenants and navigated a variety of circumstances through at least seven innings. Coming down the stretch, Bill Dunton was the set-up pitcher. He set up the arrangement with Mr. Low, let him know about the need, and of course he stepped up. And in the ninth inning, John Housley stepped up as our closer – literally navigating the close of the property in four days,” Rothschild said. “I came off the bench whenever needed.”

The historic theater was originally built in 1926 by Monett businessman M.E. Gillioz for $300,000 but had ceased hosting performances by 1980 before reopening seven years ago. The first save for the Gillioz came in December 2010, when the trust and its volunteer-led governing group dubbed Gillioz Restoration Partnership LP, filed for bankruptcy protection.

With a buyer in place, all events and shows will continue as scheduled, Rothschild said. Housley said the sale paid off Guaranty Bank, but other creditors are still owed money. In accordance with the terms of the Chapter 11 filing, investor Crain said she has received two payments under a five-year plan to pay back 5 percent of the funds she donated.

Crain said she doesn’t regret her involvement with the theater.

“We went there as children and we went there as young adults. In the process of restoring that theater, lots of men said, ‘You can’t imagine how many girls I kissed in that balcony,’” Crain said. “Those of us who were a part of it in our childhoods do feel connected to it, and (restoration) was an opportunity for us to reach back and claim some of that youth.”