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The Uptown Houston website lists this new project as: A.D. Players Theatre: New construction is planned for a performance theatre at Yorktown and Westheimer. The 85,000 square foot theatre complex will hold three theaters with a total seating of 1,000. The theatre should be complete within three years. The A.D. Players broke ground on the new location February 2006. Do we know any additional information? The AD Players theatre website does not have any information about the architect, renderings, or any other information. This will be a great venue. What else can we find out? -Yak-

Two or three years ago I was at the Continental Club downtown and saw they had one of the signs from the Cinema West theatre backstage. Does anyone remember this theatre? I believe it was an adult theater on Richmond or Westteimer in the 70s (before VHS tapes). Was it a chain of theaters?

That big hill at 610/59 was definitely a waterslide at one point. My brother's girlfriend (at the time) worked there, so I'd rike my bike over & she'd let me ride for free. I was trying really hard to remember when that was, but I know that I was either nearly out of elementary or just starting junior high - so that would put it around '80-'82 ?

Democratic National Convention of 1928 http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online...es/DD/wbd1.html

Anyone remember Electric park in galveston? Any info on it? i heard they had a good wooden coaster.

These were in the Houston calendars that were published a few years back. Alabama Theater (now Bookstop). Iris Theater, Travis between Capital and Texas. Now the site of Chase Tower. The first downtown tunnel connected this to the Texas Theater on Capital. Bluebonnet Theater., 1015 Broadway near Lawndale Yale Theater, Washington at Yale Shepherd Drive-In River Oaks Theater, the only one here still showing movies. Heights Theater, 319 W. 19th. Tower Theater, now Hollywood Video

EXCLUSIVE REPORTS From the December 10, 2004 print edition Group pays $24.5 million for Arena complex with rowdy past Jennifer Dawson Houston Business Journal A local partnership has purchased the Arena Towers and Arena Theatre with plans to increase the occupancy rates by making significant capital improvements in the properties with a checkered history. Fred Schiller is general partner in the Arena Group, which bought the two office towers and circular theater from Miami-based Lennar Partners for roughly $24.5 million. The acquisition includes two 19-story buildings, each with approximately 390,000 square feet of space; a 2,850-seat live performance theater; and two nine-story parking garages with a total of 2,200 spaces. The properties are located on the Southwest Freeway at Fondren. The performance venue had been leased and operated for many years by H'Town Arena, which stopped leasing the facility days before the sale closed. Officials with the former theater operator could not be reached for comment. "We're currently in negotiations with several major national venue operators who are very interested in leasing it," Schiller says. The Class B office space in the two towers is approximately 70 percent occupied, with several large call centers as tenants. PM Realty Group has been replaced by Transwestern Commercial Services in leasing and management of the property. Leasing will be handled by Michele Ellis-Felder and Clint Bawcom. Coincidentally, Ellis-Felder used to lease the property roughly 12 years ago. She says finding tenants will be much easier now because construction on the Southwest Freeway has been completed and the buildings were renovated six years ago. "There's just a whole new feel and look to the property," she says. Towers of Powers The office buildings were developed in the early 1980s by Mel Powers. They were constructed next to the theater, which was originally built in 1965. Powers grabbed a lot of attention at the time by building a personal penthouse on top of one of the office towers. Later, when the project went into foreclosure, he tried to homestead the whole tower as a residence. "It was a pretty celebrated case," recalls Robert Williamson of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, who with Jeff Hollinden represented Lennar Partners on the sale. "This is a very storied project. He (Powers) was a very flamboyant developer," Williamson says. New owner Schiller plans to spend an undisclosed but "significant" amount on further upgrading the appearance and functionality of the buildings. "I'm very bullish on this area of town," Schiller says. "It's undergoing some major revitalization right now. I think it's an unbeatable location." Lennar Partners had spent the last couple of years making improvements to the property as well, says Williamson of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler. "We had incredible interest for the buildings," says Williamson, of the recent marketing push. "There was tremendous upside available to the buyer." Tucker Knight of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, who arranged financing for the buyer, says lenders also saw an upside even though the buildings did not have superior cash flow. Citigroup Global Markets Inc. arranged a loan for 80 percent of the cost, and the buyer got a very low interest rate, he says. "This building could be a home run for the current ownership," says Knight. jdawson@bizjournals.com • 713-960-5935

Found this article and thought you would like it. http://www.dancing-times.co.uk/DT200409/da...es200409-2.html