The group of movie lovers that that owns and runs the Somerville Theatre and Arlington Capitol Theatre has bought the 49-55 Davis Square building hosting the Somerville Theatre, its Crystal Ballroom event space and the Mr. Crepe restaurant and offices.
The sale price was $12 million, according to Hunneman, the broker.
The news was announced via a $90,000 crowdfunding campaign created Oct. 7 and confirmed by staff and Hunneman after the transaction was recorded officially in the afternoon. The group says it has also negotiated a new 20-year lease in Arlington, which has not been bought – so the lease agreement is with the sellers, the Fraiman family.
The offer accepted by the Fraimans was not the highest that the family got for the Davis Square building, said Mark Fallon, Hunneman’s director of research and strategy.
“It was important to the Fraimans that the theater remain in good hands. The family has been loving, caring stewards [of the building] for many years,” Fallon said. “And it was important that it be in good hands going forward. I’d like to think everyone is happy with this outcome.”
Crowdfunding campaign
The group, called CSB Theatres, bought the cinemas two years ago and now owns the Somerville building with the goal of “securing its future as a home for film, live performance and community gathering for generations to come,” according to the crowdfunding campaign – as of Friday, showing just over $4,000 in donations. (The group is seeking nonprofit status in 2027, but donations so far aren’t tax-deductible.)
Making the purchase happen “meant taking on significant financing – a mix of a bank loan and support from private lenders who believe in this place. It was a leap of faith, made because the alternative, losing the theater to developers or a use that erases its history, wasn’t one we were willing to risk,” CSB said with the the help of publicist Elizabeth Aragao.
“Every dollar raised through this campaign goes directly toward paying down the debt we took on to secure this building: paying off loans, reducing our interest costs, protecting the theatre’s long-term stability and keeping it in the community’s hands,” said the group, which includes Ian Judge, longtime director of the Somerville cinema, and Ian Brownell of The Brattle Theatre in Cambridge’s Harvard Square.
Brownell and a second theater patron who has asked to remain anonymous “backed the deal on generous terms,” according to a press release on the theater website.
The property
The property was part of a potential $40 million “three-building portfolio for sale” that included 49-55 Davis Square in Somerville; the Arlington property at 202-218 Massachusetts Ave.; and 36 College Ave., properties of the Fraiman family, which leased space to CSB. The two screens in Davis Square include a 70 mm one in a hall seating 840 people; the theater is home to film festivals throughout the year in addition to first-run and repertory screenings.
The Somerville Theater opened May 11, 1914. The Somerville Museum calls it among the country’s oldest continuously operating theaters.
The building was listed by Hunneman for $12 million. “This is one of the most unique investment opportunities we have encountered in Greater Boston,” said Carl Christie, an executive vice president at Hunneman. “The portfolio combines irreplaceable real estate, iconic entertainment venues, stable in-place income and premier transit-oriented locations. Opportunities to acquire assets with this level of history, visibility and long-term ownership are exceptionally rare.”
Messages seeking more information about the purchase and the rest of the real estate portfolio were left Friday with Judge, Aragao and Hunneman.
