Despite Owners’ Pleas, Island Theatre Article Heads to Town Meeting

Oak Bluffs will forge ahead with a question at town meeting about purchasing or taking the Island Theatre by eminent domain, despite pleas from the owners to hold off.

At a select board meeting Tuesday, owners Ben Hall Jr. and Brian Hall approached officials about the warrant article the board floated last month seeking $5 million to acquire the property. The theatre has been sitting vacant on Circuit avenue since 2012 and is showing signs of disrepair.

The Halls said that inadequate wastewater flow to the building has stymied their ability to sell the property, which they say has been on the market for over a decade. Ben Hall Jr. previously told the Gazette that the asking price for the property, assessed by the town at $1.65 million, is $2.8 million, but the warrant article could kill any chance of selling the property on the open market.

“I would just ask that the town [and] that the select board consider, when it comes to town meeting … indefinitely postponing the article,” Ben Hall Jr. said.

Select board members felt it is time to do something about the theatre, which a board of survey deemed a safety hazard in 2016.

“We’ve been hearing from the community over and over in every corner for so many years [about] what’s going on,” said select board member Emma Green-Beach. “As one person, I think it’ll be interesting to hear the conversation at that meeting.”

Select board chair Dion Alley said he was sympathetic to the Halls’ wastewater issues but agreed with Ms. Green-Beach about the article’s urgency. Mr. Alley emphasized that purchasing the building would be ideal and called an eminent domain taking “the last straw.”

“When you’re saying the private sector interest has been damaged by this, the previous 16 years of private sector interest was not particularly damaged by just the wastewater concerns,” he said. “We’re hearing from members of the town, citizens of the town, that action needs to be taken.”

Ben Hall Jr. emphasized Tuesday the family’s desire to part ways with the property.

“We are embarrassed, frankly, by the condition that it looks in,” Ben Hall Jr. said. “We don’t want to own it anymore.”

At a previous meeting and in a communication last month with the Gazette, Ben Hall Jr. suggested that he would be willing to work out a direct sale of the property to the town.

According to emails between Mr. Alley and Ben Hall Jr. that Mr. Alley shared with the Gazette, Mr. Hall requested an executive session with the board to discuss pricing and friendly financing. The board denied this request, instead offering him a chance to address the board publicly.

On Tuesday, Ben Hall Jr. said that he would prefer to sell the Island Theatre to a private entity.

“We would be happy to sell it to the town, but my gut feeling is, what’s best for the entire Island and the heart of Oak Bluffs, is to have one of the private groups come forward and be able to buy it and have adequate wastewater flow so that they can build a multi-use project, a grand hotel,” Ben Hall Jr. said.

While waiting for a buyer, the Halls say they’ve made some efforts to repair the building, which Ben Hall Jr. said can withstand hurricane-force winds. He mentioned plans made last year to fix up the building’s facade but said they fell apart due to “family issues.”

“That was on us,” he said.

Ben Hall Jr. also noted that about a decade ago, when the family took the roof off the building to repair a rotted truss, the building inspector at the time ordered a cease and desist for construction at the Island Theatre, which prevented them from closing the roof. Only after appealing with a state board were they able to resume work, he said.

“Five months of that roof being open and the rain and the elements just pouring into that old building was not on us,” he said. “That created many of the issues, or exacerbated many of the pre-existing issues that we had.”

He also said that they were willing to demolish the building back when the town gave the family the go-ahead to do so, and were looking into options to safely remove asbestos in the building. Ben Hall Jr. cited “zoning grandfathering” as the reason for not taking the building down at that point.

“People that were looking to buy the place wanted to have that … protective layer, so that they could rebuild a structure just like it’s there now, and not have to worry about zoning issues,” Ben Hall Jr. said.

He said the family plans to do some work on the facade ahead of this summer.

“We will try to put some lipstick on it for the summer, but we hope that we’re not going to be engaged in a long process of what the Cottage City Historic District is going to require us to do,” he said.

The Halls took issue with the fact that the town does not yet have a concrete plan for the property once it’s acquired. To take a property by eminent domain, a government entity must be able to demonstrate a public use for said property — an issue the board discussed at a previous meeting.

Town administrator Deborah Potter told the Gazette last month that if acquired, the property will serve a public service with the potential to spur economic redevelopment. She suggested last month assembling a committee to identify a use for the property.

“I just find it ironic that there’s no plan for the property, and you’re just going to take it,” Ben Hall, Jr. said Tuesday.

Ms. Green-Beach said that developing a plan for the property could be costly, which is why the town is first putting the matter to a public vote before proceeding.

“What’s the point in investing the money in a plan if you don’t know if the townspeople even want us to make a plan?” Ms. Green-Beach said. “It’s easy to feel like the cart is before the horse, but sometimes that’s not the case.”

The select board said the Halls can speak to the issue at town meeting in April.

This article appears in March 13, 2026.