City officials huddled up Wednesday to discuss the future of the
Hooker-Fulton Building and adjoining Main Street Moviehouse, which
are slated to close by October.

A resolution to the matter is urgent – the loss of the building
would be a major blow to the city’s economic development efforts
and could force some businesses to relocate away from downtown due
to a lack of available office space.

The situation was discussed during a meeting of the Downtown
Bradford Revitalization Corp., and city officials.

“This will require leadership from city government,” DBRC
president Chris Hauser said, adding if a developer isn’t found
soon, the two entities will need to work together to ensure the
building’s survival. “We have a very tight time frame here.”

During the meeting, the group batted around various options for
the property – including acting as a catalyst to entice a developer
to take over the building, acquiring the theater portion of the
building to protect it from being closed and possibly moving city
offices from the current City Hall building on Kennedy Street and
developing condominiums on some of the building’s floors.

There was no official decision arrived at during the meeting.
Officials will now wait to see the results of some initial
inquiries about the building before deciding on a course of
action.

“The theater is doing very well financially,” Hauser said, “but
for the most recent situation, its long-term viability would have
been ensured. This building is anchored to that part of Main
Street. If something isn’t done, it will become an eyesore.”

The matter came to a head last week when Robert Gleason, on
behalf of his family, notified more than 20 tenants that their
leases would not be renewed, citing financial difficulties. The
impending closure would affect those located inside the
Hooker-Fulton and Gleason buildings, the moviehouse and a handful
of Main Street storefronts.

The property has been up for sale for a few years. City
officials agreed that time is of the essence; the building’s inner
workings will soon sit idle and would be without heat starting in
October.

“If it (building) were to go through the winter without heat, it
would deteriorate,” said Jim Guelfi, chairman of the “Light Up the
Marquee” campaign.

The theater remains the jewel of the complex and speaks to a
grassroots effort to revitalize it four years ago. Prior to its
opening, Bradford residents had been without a theater since 2001.
More than $500,000 has been put into the theater from both the
public and private sectors.

Officials said the theater portion of the building is
essentially self-sustaining, and could operate separately to keep
it open. They also rebuffed reports of noise from the theater
causing problems for other tenants, adding it’s not usually open
during normal business hours.

“We do have the power to acquire buildings of historical
significance,” Hauser said, referring to the DBRC’s bylaws. “But,
it’s beyond our resources to acquire a building and develop it
ourselves.”

That leads directly back to having options.

Officials said the first order of business will be seeing if any
interested developers will take on the property. Then, the DBRC and
city can work with that developer.

Meanwhile, Hauser said another possibility was brought to him –
moving city departments out of City Hall and into the Hooker-Fulton
Building and related property. Under that scenario, a developer
could be found for the existing City Hall and the police station
torn down to provide parking for the neighboring buildings.

Hauser said while the Old City Hall development had some
criticism in regards to funding of the project, “I don’t think we
would be anywhere near the magnitude of that project to preserve
the Hooker-Fulton Building.”

According to Hauser, the idea of placing condos in high-rise
buildings has been broached before. The idea had been pondered in
the Emery Towers before it was finally developed into apartments,
mainly for the elderly.

“There are a number of people in town that are elderly and can’t
maintain their own homes,” Hauser said. “It would also put housing
stock on the market that is badly needed in this community.”

However, officials said those types of projects don’t come
together overnight.

“That building will need winterization done and a minimal amount
of heat in it (over the winter),” City Clerk John Peterson said,
adding if the inside were gutted and modernized, that could lead to
“big bucks” being spent.

Guelfi said Gov. Ed Rendell favors downtown projects and state
funding could be available for such a task.

Officials agreed the last resort would be tearing down the
building, which could entail significant cost.