Smithtown theater put up for sale amid feud between owner, theater board

The former executive director of the Smithtown Performing Arts Council, who owns the nonprofit’s 2 East Main St. theater, has put the property up for sale for $1.6 million amid a feud with board leaders of the organization he used to run.

Kenneth Washington told Newsday last week that the Council owes him more than $90,000 in back rent for using the theater the last 10 months. Board president Mike Mucciolo and vice president Keith Blum disputed that figure, saying Washington had agreed to a rent reduction during the pandemic, which temporarily closed the Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts and cut deeply into revenues.

The board made a $1.3 million offer last Friday but has gotten no response, they said

They said they pay taxes, utilities and insurance at the property but have not had a lease since 2018. They said also that Washington announced the sale after they fired him from his $79,000 Council director job and that on August 21 they got a 14-day notice for nonpayment of rent.

That notice is an early step in a process that could eventually lead to eviction of the community theater organization that has produced musicals, theater and children’s educational programming at the site for more than a decade.

"I’m selling the building because I’m 66 years old and I want to liquidate my assets so I can move on to the next chapter in my life," Washington said in a phone interview last week. "In order for me to put the building up for sale, it’s in my interest not to have a long-term lease in place."

On Monday Washington sent Newsday an email saying that "anything I’ve said previously is herewith retracted... After 18 years of proudly producing and presenting live entertainment in Smithtown I have moved to South Carolina." He could not be reached to elaborate.

Blum described Washington’s decision to sell as "retribution" for his firing. He and Micciolo, who both have children participating in programs at the theater, said in an interview last week at the theater they have begun fundraising on GoFundMe to buy the building.

Purchase is "the only way that we as a board can guarantee that this theater is going to last long past all of us and can service this community for further generations," Blum said.

The one-time movie theater hosts 10 to 12 children’s and main stage productions a year, along with special events and children’s classes. During the pandemic, programming shifted outdoors to the Smithtown Historical Society.

The sales listing with Jack Jawdat at New York Commercial Real Estate describes the 360-seat, 8,600-square-foot 1933 building as "mint condition," generating over "$1.5 million gross revenue."

Mucciolo said the $1.6 million asking price was based on an inaccurate March, 2020 appraisal that included lighting and sound equipment owned by the nonprofit, not Washington, that the board valued at more than $225,000.

On a tour of the theater they showed water damage on the walls, broken stained glass windows and missing exterior stucco. Muccilo said that the building needed $250,000 in repairs.

According to May IRS filing, the Council’s highest annual revenue over the last five years was $1.4 million in 2019. That figure includes ticket sales, gifts and grants.

According to property records and IRS filings, Washington bought the theater in 2001 for $405,000 from United Artists Theatre Circuit through a limited liability company, Smithtown Theatre Holding Company.

He and his wife, Laura, were salaried employees of the nonprofit. The nonprofit paid the holding company $73,750 in rent in 2020.

Smithtown spokeswoman Nicole Garguilo said town leaders saw the theater’s survival as essential "based on a proven record with Patchogue, Babylon, Riverhead," all of which have performing arts centers. "You need that anchor to draw foot traffic to the local economy, and in addition to that, you have countless young people who go there for acting classes, auditions, performances, many talented artists who come out and go on to pursue careers."

By Nicholas Spangler

nicholas.spangler@newsday.comspanglernewsday

Nicholas Spangler is a general assignment reporter and has worked at Newsday since 2010.