DOWNTOWN
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SUSAN BURGESS
The Sunrise Theatre added a Black Box theatre for smaller productions that
could benefit from a flexible seating arrangement. On Tuesdays it is home
to the Jazz Jam by the Fort Pierce Jazz and Blues Society. The space can
also be rented for events.
ED DRONDOSKI
The Renaissance, a residential, office and retail complex on Indian River
Drive, was built by Leo Henriquez and is now owned by Jimmy and Becky
Winemiller. Condo units with many prices cut in half, are selling out fast.
LUXURY FOR LESS
The Renaissance, a mix of condominium units, office space
and storefronts, opened in 2008 as the downtown’s first major
residential complex in more than 50 years. The recession hit
it hard, and sales languished. In 2011 it was purchased by
Arkansas rice farmers Jimmy and Becky Winemiller, who buy
distressed properties and get them back on their feet.
Tony Potter, a Realtor from the Fontaine Property Group
in Melbourne, says its office at the Renaissance has already
taken deposits for 16 of the 32 unsold units. Two of the retail
stores are considering expansion into adjoining retail space,
he says. Units are selling for about half the original asking
price, and now range from about $170,000 to $550,000.
“They bought the Renaissance after the bank foreclosed on
it at a good price, so they can sell at a good price,” he says.
“Our prices are awesome.”
“We’re trying to continue the vision Leo Henriquez
started of creating a beautiful place where people can live
downtown and enjoy the beauty of the waterfront and the
city,” Potter says.
The restored Sunrise Theatre, considered an economic engine
for the downtown, got off the ground when Main Street
and its volunteers took over efforts to rebuild and revive it. It
reopened in 2006.
“We’ve had record ticket sales each year for the past four
years,” says Executive Director John Wilkes.
When he started there in 2007 the theatre’s reconstruction
debt was $1.9 million. It has been whittled down to $500,000,
he says.
To encourage visitors during the off-season the theater offered
free movies twice a day on Sundays last summer, and
between the movies many visitors chose to eat in local restaurants.
The theater will do it again this summer, he says. The
theater’s new black box performing space transforms into a
jazz club most Tuesday nights during the Fort Pierce Jazz and
Blues Society’s jazz jams.
“To be successful, communities have to discover creative
ways to become ‘18-hour’ cities,” Ward says. “Otherwise,
our downtowns become ghost towns after five o’clock, every
afternoon, when the workers flee for the suburbs.”
There is little doubt that downtown is well on its way to
fulfilling that dream.
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