On Lake Street, a lit sign hangs over the doors of a theater that has shown no film since 2003. The Boyne Theater at 216 S. Lake St. has been closed for 23 years. Its marquee has not. According to the Boyne Citizen, it stayed lit after the closing and is still used for community messages.
The sign kept working long after the building stopped, and that is why the sign is now the open question in the sale. Boyne City Main Street has settled on a price for the theater. It has not settled whether the marquee goes with it.
Two Buildings in One Address
The building at 216 S. Lake St. has been remade twice. It opened in 1904 as the Bellamy Opera House. A major 1938 remodel changed its Lake Street facade and added a V-shaped marquee. According to the city's historic building survey, as the Boyne Citizen reported, the marquee there now looks like that 1938 version but is larger, and it appears to have gone up in the 1950s.
So the sign is not original to the building. It still has decades of downtown history behind it, and it has kept running through two decades when the building behind it could not.
The town has already put the theater on its keepsakes. The Boyne Heritage Center's 2025 Christmas ornament featured the Boyne Theater. It sold for $35 on its own or as part of a $100 three-piece collection at City Hall. The theater ornament is still listed at $35 on the city's Heritage Center page.
How the Price Got to $300,000
The building has belonged to Main Street's side of city government since 2020. The Boyne Citizen reported that Main Street bought the theater that year for $350,000. The request for proposals lists the owner as the City of Boyne City Downtown Development Authority/Boyne City Main Street, and the extended deadline for proposals was Sept. 1, 2026.
The offers came in over about three months:
| Date (2026) | Offer or counter | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| By July 30 | Boyne Community Theater & Event Venue, no price | Only initial respondent; $17,500 earnest-money deposit |
| By Sept. 10 | Sisu Group LLC, $225,000 | Movies in the smaller theater, a wedding and event center in the larger room, a teen center, marquee kept |
| Before Sept. 3 | Nonprofit, $100,000 | Main Street keeps negotiating with the nonprofit |
| Sept. 3 | Main Street counter, $350,000 | Same as the 2020 purchase price |
| Oct. 1 | Nonprofit offer, $300,000; Main Street counters at that price | As-is, with the marquee carved out |
Sisu Group's plan kept the marquee with the building, and the request for proposals never separated the two. Main Street also kept negotiating with the nonprofit after the $225,000 bid arrived, even though that bid was higher than the nonprofit's $100,000 offer at the time.
The $50,000 Gap and the Sign
When the board took up the $300,000 offer on Oct. 1, Chair Anna Burkhart said the price was acceptable to her, according to the Boyne Citizen. Board member Sarah Niederpruem then suggested Main Street keep ownership of the marquee. She tied the idea partly to the $50,000 gap between the nonprofit's offer and Main Street's $350,000 position. She also gave a second reason, in her words to the board:
"I just want to protect the marquee in case something happened."
The Boyne Citizen reported that the marquee had not been left out of the original request for proposals and had not come up in the negotiations before that meeting. The condition surprised the nonprofit's representatives. It also raised questions on the board about how Main Street could own a sign attached to a building it no longer owned, who would pay for maintenance and repairs, and whether ownership meant control over the messages. Board member Jessica White told the meeting, "I don't think we should control what they put on the marquee."
After more than 30 minutes of discussion, the board voted 6–1 for a counteroffer with these terms:
- The theater sells as-is for $300,000.
- Main Street does not pay for a survey.
- The nonprofit may inspect the building at its own expense.
- A separate memorandum will cover ownership of the marquee.
- The agreement will address all known or discovered crossover items.
- Closing happens within 35 days.
The Boyne Citizen reported that the 35-day closing applies only if the nonprofit accepts the counteroffer.
Executive Director Ingrid Day and the city attorney were authorized to write the marquee terms. Nonprofit President Scott MacKenzie told the Boyne Citizen that his group was "asking for clarification" about what Main Street's ownership of the marquee would mean. He also said, "We're excited that our offer of $300,000 was accepted." On Oct. 21, 9&10 News reported that MacKenzie said the group was in final negotiations with Boyne City Main Street to take over the property.
What the Nonprofit Wants Behind the Sign
The buyer's plans explain why the sign matters to both sides. On its website, boynetheater.org, Boyne Community Theater & Event Venue describes a family-friendly venue with first-run and classic films, children's matinees, live performances, concerts, lectures, private rentals and community events. A marquee is how a program like that reaches people walking down Lake Street.
The restoration budget is large. The nonprofit's plans page lays out four phases at about $2 million each, or $7 million to $8 million in total. When the first proposal arrived, Main Street estimated restoration at about $2.1 million over three to five years. The nonprofit's first phase alone costs about as much as Main Street's estimate for the whole job. That first phase covers assessment, stabilization, repairs, work to meet the code needed to open the doors, and work on the marquee.
Under the counteroffer as written, the nonprofit's phase one would include restoration work on a sign that Main Street wants to own. That is one of the maintenance-and-repair questions the board raised on Oct. 1.
The nonprofit's immediate goal is $400,000 to cover the purchase and early costs such as insurance and utilities. It plans to line up commitments for about 75% of each phase before it opens fundraising to the wider public.
Lake Street This Month, With the Sign Still Lit
For now the marquee keeps its usual job over a downtown with plenty going on through November. The theater's 120-plus years fit into Boyne City's 170th birthday, which has its own events on the calendar:
- Nov. 14, 1 p.m. Historian Patrick McCleary gives a free talk on Boyne City's history for the 170th birthday, in the lower-level Community Room at Boyne District Library, 201 E. Main St. McCleary has also written about the Boyne Theater in his local landmarks series for the Boyne Citizen.
- Nov. 19, 20 and 21, 7 p.m. Boyne Meets Broadway runs at the Boyne City High School Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $10, and the BCHS Hospitality Department serves dinner on Friday only.
- Nov. 21, 7 to 11 a.m. Earlier Than The Bird brings early shopping and special offers downtown.
- Nov. 27, 5 to 9 p.m. Holly Jolly Boyne fills Lake and Main streets. The parade starts at 6 p.m., Santa heads to the tree lighting at Sunset Park, and downtown businesses stay open. Boyne City Main Street, the organization selling the theater, runs the event.
Through the holiday parade, the marquee will hang over the street just as it has since the 1950s. The terms written by Ingrid Day and the city attorney will decide who owns it after the sale.
The Boyne Theater sale shows how a historic building's signature feature can become its own item in a negotiation. Pat Leavy has spent more than 25 years helping owners of legacy properties sort out what goes with the building, what stays behind and what each piece is worth. If you own a property with that kind of history, schedule a free consultation to talk through how to present it.
