New owners for Colonial Theater in North Canaan

NORTH CANAAN — With the flip of a switch, a glow emanated from the neon marquee outside the historic Colonial Theatre on Saturday, April 22.

The sign of life marked the arrival of the landmark building’s new owners, who purchased it one day earlier with the intent of reviving it as a multi-use gathering space and centerpiece for the community.

On Friday, April 21, the 100-year-old theater, which sat dark and silent for several years, was sold by Canfield LLC to Lenore and Marc Mallett of Lakeville and Stacey and David Fiorillo of Salisbury for $325,000.

The transaction included the theater and its adjoining, two chamfered storefronts with showcase windows which flank its recessed entrance, as well as the purchase of an adjacent parking lot.

“We are so excited for the community,” said David Fiorillo, who serves as CFO for the private Marvelwood School in Kent, as he and his partners explored their newly acquired, 10,340-square-foot, two-story structure and contemplated its possibilities.

“We’re thinking of it as an events space focusing on the local community.”

Marc Mallett, a digital media veteran and vice president of programmatic sales for the Walt Disney Company, said he and his wife, Lenore, who is an agent for Sotheby’s International Realty in Salisbury, have always been drawn to historical buildings and the old main streets of small towns.

“We love the idea of restoring something like the Colonial, but we were all pleasantly surprised when the opportunity to purchase the Colonial presented itself and we jumped on it. We look forward to bringing such a great asset back to the community.”

Michelle Gandolfo, who manages properties for the seller, Benjamin Wohlfert, the principal of Canfield LLC, said her client’s main priority was to ensure that it “went into good hands for the community.

A new era for ‘Little Radio City’

Since opening in 1923, when it was known as “Little Radio City), it has had its share of ups and downs and owners.

In its early years, movies were shown on the main level, and a grand upstairs ballroom hosted vaudeville shows, civic events, graduations and dances. A bowling alley occupied the basement area, and the Colonial became a major social hub for North Canaan and neaby towns.

The aging structure weathered decades of changes of film and audience until it was closed in 1997 upon the death of its owner and on the verge of being condemned. A nonprofit started a year later had been working to acquire and reopen the theater, which was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.

In the early 2000s NorthCanaan residents David and Missy Ohler purchased the property for $249,000 and undertook a million-dollar renovation to return the 496-seat Colonial to its art deco opulence. It reopened in 2005 as a cinema/dinner theater, similar to another historic Litchfield County theater, the Gilson Café and Theatre in Winsted.

By 2008 the Colonial was back on the market for $1.58 million and remained closed until Wohlfert assumed ownership in 2013 and transformed it into a special events venue hosting live music and occasional film events.

In May of 2019, The North Canaan Community Hub, a brainchild of North Canaan Selectman Christian Allyn and student-intern Victor Flores, opened a free collaborative work and meeting space for local businesses and nonprofit groups in one of the theater’s storefronts.

Similar hubs had popped up in other nearby communities, including in Norfolk, which opened in 2016 and has become a popular gathering place.

Then came the COVID-19 pandemic. The Colonial Theatre, and with it the North Canaan Community Hub, closed in the summer of 2021.

The property went back on the market and was listed by William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty in Salisbury for $300,000, according to agent John Harney, who represented the seller in the April 21 sale of the theater.

Purchasers’ plans for the future

Twenty-four hours after buying the Colonial, its new owners took The Lakeville Journal on a tour of the theater.

Stacey Fiorillo, who is a genetic counselor for Myriad Genetics as well as the office manager for her husband, David’s, company, Twin Lakes Consulting, said the building’s aged and fading exterior belies its turn-key condition inside.

“The outside doesn’t match the inside. I expected the ceilings to be caving in,” she laughed, but instead found the interior to be very well preserved and maintained, with its carpeting, hardwood floors, red velvet stage curtains and seats and dining booths and tables in excellent condition.

Marc Mallett explained that the group has started exploring grants through organizations dedicated to preserving old buildings and theaters.

But before the curtain rises on any activities, the new owners said they aim to interview key stakeholders in the community.

The group plans an open house party in May, and ask that anyone with questions email them at Canaancolonial@gmail.com or visit www.canaancolonial.com.