Welcome to BigScreenBiz.com

I was listening to cheap-cheap-cheap ads for brand new metal buildings. 20' high x 50' wide x 100' long 22,000.00 us. Do metal buildings have inherently bad qualities for theatres?

---

Michael Hurley
Impresario

I assume lots of acoustic insulation is needed to keep out outside sounds. After seeing the damage from this week's midwest tornadoes, how do these buildings hold up in violent weather?:
http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WEATHER/05/05/tornadoes/
http://www.stormtrack.org/library/damage/lessons1.htm
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/lzk/afosdata/pns121902a.txt

---

John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Customer Technical Services
Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Eastman Kodak Company
Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Telephone: 585-477-5325 Cell: 585-781-4036 Fax: 585-722-7243
E-Mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

Mike, you just got caught up in the great lie. The shell of the building is a very small component of the total construction costs of a theatre. Metal buildings are great for warehouses, barns, shops, farms and garages. They are cheap to buy and easy to put up.

But for a theatre, you still have to insulate it, fire proof it, put a finished walls on the inside, pluming, concession stand, raked or stadium floor, second floor for the booth, sprinklers, wiring and so on. The shell of the building is of little consequence.

Besides if you are considering adding on to Houlton, then the city will insist that any new construction blend in with their Historic Square. And if you are thinking of Houlton, think theatre behind, shops in front.

I always love those Straw Bale House comparisons. Build your very own straw bale house for only $40 per square foot. Well that gets you a foundation, Straw Bale walls, plaster and a roof. Everything else is extra.

Mike... we've looked into the exact same type of building for the drive-in.

I checked out the web-site for General Steel, and you can get a 40' x 60' metal building for as little as $12,900.00. Like Large said though, that's a steel shell only. The interior costs is where things add up.

Our concessions/projection building as originally designed was 34'-8" x 60'-0" with the entire bottom floor built of 8" split-faced concrete block. The office and projection booth(s) were upstairs in a 2x4 framed structure above the block structure below. By the time we took into account the costs of the concrete block & wood framed building shell + the HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and the interior finishes... our bids ranged from $196k to $321k. Our budget was $150k.

We have redesigned the building now to fit everything into a single story 32'-8" x 65'-0" building - entirely of split faced concrete block. The block cost for the entire structure was only $9600.00

If you want to see what a tornado does to a movie theatre built out of a metal building, do an internet search for the November 2002 tornadoes that hit Van Wert, Ohio. UDITOA member Jim Boyd owned the former Ridgeway Drive-In and the 5 screen VanWert indoor cinemas. The drive-in was completely demolished, and the only part of the indoor theatre that survived intact was the concrete block concessions and restroom area between the auditoriums (which were made of metal buildings). There was a great photo of several cars from the parking lot that were overturned and lying on the theatre seats inside what remained of one of the auditoriums.





Still Interested in Metal Buildings to seat YOUR patrons in?



[This message has been edited by Barry Floyd (edited May 06, 2003).]

Wow! Van Wert had a great sound system! And that wrap around screen! makes a car chase sooooo realistic!

General Steel ad was what started my thinking.

There are 24 empty stores in the downtown of Houlton. I'm thinking a hot dog stand!

---

Michael Hurley
Impresario