BEVERLY — The owner of a theater in Rhode Island said he plans to buy the defunct North Shore Music Theatre and reopen for business next spring.
William Hanney said he has signed a purchase and sale agreement with Citizens Bank to buy the property and expects to close on the deal soon.
“I would love to see it off the ground and have a show sometime in the spring,” Hanney said. “I want to bring it back to life.”
A spokeswoman for the bank confirmed that the property is under agreement, and the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals has scheduled a public hearing for Dec. 10 on a request by Hanney to continue to operate the property as a theater.
Hanney owns Theatre by the Sea in Matunuck, R.I., as well as a chain of 10 movie theaters in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Connecticut.
He said he attended last month’s foreclosure auction but did not make a bid at that time for the theater, which went out of business in June due to financial problems.
For more on this story, please see Tuesday’s edition of The Salem News.
Comments from users with registered accounts will post at once. Comments from unregistered accounts will post after being reviewed by a site moderator. Posts that do not meet site standards, which can be found here, will be removed.
