Injunction seeks to rescind Coyle Theater sale
Two former members of the Mid Mon Valley Cultural Trust have received a temporary injunction to rescind the already culminated sale of the Coyle Theater to the Middle Monongahela Industrial Development Association.
A hearing is scheduled for 1:15 p.m. Monday in Washington County Court.
The injunction was filed on behalf of Nikki Sheppick and Ken Thompson, both former members of the Cultural Trust and the Charleroi Area Historical Society, of which Shepppick is a board member.
The injunction seeks to reverse the sale of the Coyle to MIDA, which was completed Monday afternoon. It also seeks to prevent any alteration to the historic, but aging, theater while previous litigation filed by Sheppick and Thompson is ongoing.
Earlier this year, the two former members of the Mid Mon Valley Cultural Trust sued the nonprofit’s board, seeking to prevent the potential sale of Coyle Theater building in Charleroi.
Attorney Peter Haft, who filed both suits, said the historical society has standing because the theater is an historic landmark. About 80 percent of Charleroi is so designated in the National Register of Historic Places, a section stretching from the 900 block to the 1300 block of Lincoln Avenue and Railroad Street as well as from First to 13th streets.
The previous suit alleges the trust violated its bylaws by proposing to sell the Coyle Theater. That suit asked the courts to stop the sale of the Coyle building to MIDA, order the trust to begin repairs to the building and prevent the trust from being dissolved. It alleged that renovating the aging theater is economically feasible.
Opened in the 1890s, the Coyle was closed in 1999.
In 2000, the Mon Valley Cultural Trust was incorporated. In recent years, the trust asked the borough to take “site control” of the theater. But talks broke down after council told trust members it would create a new board to oversee the Coyle before the borough took over the building.
On Dec. 6, MIDA signed an agreement which gave the trust exclusive rights to purchase the theater building.