For a few weeks I’ve known that the Orlando Improv was might be about to close. They were facing a few issues that they were trying to overcome to stay in their current location. But there were a few issues why they might have to relocate. My wife swore me to secrecy about it, so I’ve kept my mouth shut. Today however, I noticed my buddy Alex had the story on his own site. I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to be beaten on the story, that I felt I had the heads up on.
Figures.
The story is that the new owner of the property the Improv leases, Cameron Kuhn, had agreed to provide a liquor license to the Improv as incentive to stay in the largely vacant historic Church Street district. The day before their existing liquor license was due to expire, Cameron reneged on his side of the bargain. Corporate management for the Improv decided to vacate the location, and sue for breach of contract.
Here’s where it gets interesting…
When the story hit the news today (dammit), Cameron decided to change the locks on the building to effectively lock the Improv out of their leased space. The only reasons I can come up with as to why he would do such an obviously dumb move, is
1.) Bullying – perhaps he thought he could scare Improv management out of a lawsuit.
2.) Collateral – Maybe Cameron thought if he removed Improv imployees immediately, he might be able to steal some valuable property of theirs, and use it as leverage against any possible lawsuite.
3.) Spite – The most auspicious of all possible reasons. Cameron might just be mad at the thought of being sued over something he thinks he has the right to do.
My good friend, was recently promoted to at the Improv after a debacle with the former GM (**details removed upon request**). That’s another story entirely. WFTV talked to her about it for their 11pm broadcast It’s always cool to be interviewed, I guess.
I called her after the broadcast to let her know they spelt her name wrong. She was typical about it, but she did mention how she won. The original locks are back in place, and they might just turn the space into a haunted house until they’re required by law to leave.
So, you might just have a downtown haunted house to go to this year! I guess there’s always some silver lining to be had.
Here’s what still frustrates me about this: Why would a developer who’s known to be broke right now, evict a stable tenant from a property that isn’t producing stable tenants!!?!!??!? Furthermore, Orlando needs steady downtown entertainment to keep people coming, and push business downtown .I can’t imagine why someone with such a vested interest in downtown Orlando (something over $50 million) would do anything to sabatoge that.
Well, the cat’s out of the bag now. All of the local news stations have it out for Cameron, so he may wind up in a similiar situation to what Lou Perlman faced before him. It’s unbelievable how people with so much to lose self-destruct in the most obsurd ways.
UPDATE October 17, 2007:
Upper Improv Orlando management has made a decision on where to move to. I’m under oath to not say where. However, I will say it’s in a more ‘touristy’ area of town