Elmwood's Vern Reynolds' Palace Theater is now listed for foreclosure after it was rebuilt in 2010. The said landmark will be on sale next month in the Peoria County Courthouse.
According to Journal Star, Vern Reynolds, the owner of the Palace Theater, admitted his mistakes on his decision to make the place run after it was damaged when the tornado destroyed the building.
"My first mistake was when I decided to rebuild after the tornado [last June 5, 2010]," he added, "My second mistake was thinking that all the customers I lost would all come back. Business has been off."
Reynold Theaters Entertainment Inc. owes $180,772.82, which is the total amount which included the remaining principal and the interest on a $500,000 mortgage that Reynolds took from Farmers State Bank in 1999 to buy the Garden Theater in Canton. According to the court documents, this amount also included the late charges and fees, costs and expenses, and the plaintiff's attorney's fees.
Because of these big amounts of money the properties owed, the Farmers decided to close them last spring. After operating the Palace Theater for 37 years, Reynolds's time to foreclose the property has come due to financial pinch.
Journal Star also mentioned about Reynolds' decision to stop making mortgage payments since December 2014 on both theaters. He also closed the Canton Theater he purchased 16 years ago. So, the remaining Elmwood's Palace Theater, now considered a landmark in Elmwood.
The Palace Theater was supposed to be foreclosed this December 9 but it was postponed to January 11, Jim Rochford, Reynolds' lawyer said.
"We've been working with a very flexible bank that is aware of how much the Palace Theater means to the city of Elmwood," he added, "We bought Vern another month."
Jennie Boswell, representative from Farmers State Bank, said, "The bank is governed by extensive privacy laws relating to its customers and therefore cannot comment on the matter outside of anything that is already available in those publicly filed court papers that you have."
Palace Theater was built in 1912 and opened in 1913 as the Opera House and it hosted vaudeville shows. After more than 20 years, it was sold to Ed and Vivian Hawn, formerly Musicatine, Iowa, on their wedding day in 1935. Then, Reynolds bought the place in 1979.
For Reynolds, it's tough to see this property for sale due to the bad financial situation. He mentioned that this Palace Theater is a wonderful building and he has a lot of memories in the theatre.
Currently, the Elmwood's Landmark Palace Theater is showing Pixar's "The Last Dinosaur."