Alliance seeks structural study of Charleroi’s Coyle Theater
This view shows the main seating area and the balcony inside the Coyle Theater in Charleroi.
Evan Sanders
Mon Valley Alliance CEO Christopher Whitlatch, photographed inside the Coyle Theater, located along McKean Avenue in Charleroi on Thursday, discusses hopes and plans for the structure.
Evan Sanders
This a closer look at the upper-level seating in the Coyle Theater.
Evan Sanders
Ryan Rice of Charleroi snaps images on his cellphone in a stairwell inside the Coyle Theater.
Mon Valley Alliance is seeking funds for community development projects such as the Coyle Theater in Charleroi — but it said it has money set aside for a structural feasibility study of the long-closed Coyle.
“We’re going out for bids now, but we expect it to be in the $15,000 to $30,000 range,” MVA CEO Christopher Whitlatch said Thursday during a press opportunity to see inside the dilapidated structure.
There may not be much else Mon Valley Alliance can do until a challenge to its purchase of that building is resolved in Commonwealth Court — and MVA’s attorney said a briefing schedule could be 90 days away.
“We’re waiting on some procedural matters to happen,” attorney Todd Pappasergi said. “The appeals stage still is in its infancy.”
Charleroi Area Historical Society and Friends of the Coyle have gone to the state appeals court to reverse a Washington County Common Pleas Court decision giving a green light to the nearly $20,000 sale of the Coyle from Mid Mon Valley Cultural Trust to MVA.
In December, Senior Judge John C. Reed said CAHS board chairman Nikki Sheppick and the Rev. Kenneth Thompson, a retired Lutheran minister who heads the Friends, did not have standing “to prevent or undo what has been done.”
Sheppick and Thompson argued otherwise, saying money was spent to make the Coyle property a Washington County historical site.
“The Coyle is the last, still intact, still restorable historic landmark theater — in a National Register of Historic Places Historic District no less — in the Mid Mon Valley and Washington County,” Sheppick wrote in a recent email.
A former Mid Mon Valley Cultural Trust treasurer and borough council president would dispute that. Mark Alterici owns four buildings including the Palace Theater building, on which the historical society placed a plaque noting that it was the fourth oldest movie theater in the country.
“Why have they not approached me?” Alterici asked. “The people who are holding up the progress now have turned this into a pet project rather than a historical project.”
On its Facebook page, the society posted on Wednesday that the plaque was placed “on the front of what remains of the original building,” contending that only the Coyle is “still intact and still restorable with its original seats, projectors and other accoutrements.”
Alterici said he has a tenant in that building who does wood furniture, but added, “the balcony is still there, the stage is still there, and the building is a solid building.”
Whitlatch is fearful that the court fight will delay repairs to the Coyle past the point of no return.
“If the roof collapses we go into a public safety issue,” the MVA CEO said.
The balcony of the Coyle has a hole in the floor that had those guiding tours of the building advising visitors to watch their step. Pools of water up to a foot and a half deep can be found behind the curtains pulled down over a ravaged stage, and asbestos insulation is exposed in some places.
“I’m just glad that people finally got the opportunity to see what the inside really looks like,” Charleroi’s current Council President Paul Pivovarnik said. “When you go inside you can smell the mold and see that it is unsavable.”
That’s an observation also made recently by Charleroi Mayor Terry Newstrom, but Mon Valley Regional Chamber of Commerce President James Protin would not go that far, saying no one had suggested demolition at any meetings he had attended.
“The chamber has partnered 100 percent with the alliance on this,” Protin said. “Our goal is to have something functional and productive that benefits the community and the Mon Valley.”
He said it would be a win for all concerned if the Coyle could be restored and put back on the tax rolls.
“We want to refurbish it into a community amenity,” the chamber president said.
Thursday’s opportunity to tour the building was offered to the historical society, too, Whitlatch said.
“They were invited to give their side of the story,” the MVA CEO said.
He also said that a meeting may be held next week with the society in a renewed bid to resolve the controversy out of court.
That isn’t the only court date the alliance has in the days to come. On March 22 Washington County Common Pleas Court Judge Damon J. Faldowski will rule on MVA’s purchase of the Atlas Building and the old Charleroi high school football stadium from the Charleroi Area School District.
MVA has a long-term lease of the Atlas Building and has moved ahead with its demolition which began this week.
“Demolition of the Atlas Building is progressing very well,” Whitlatch said. “It is a very challenging demolition, but the crew (from BJC Enterprises of Monroeville) is doing a wonderful job.”
The Alliance moved on Thursday night to a fundraising event at the River House that featured former Pittsburgh Steeler Robin Cole.
There pictures were shown that the alliance took on a rainy day in January as it toured the Coyle. The photos showed sewer water in the basement, pigeon droppings on the projectors and deterioration to the balcony, seating areas and interior walls.
The event also was an opportunity for the alliance to detail its plans for a riverfront park project that would take the place of the football stadium.