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Youth Futures Sells Mall, Attic Theatre Looks For New Home
by Bob Lowe
October 7, 2005

Since my last column, there have many new developments. Let’s play catch-up:

The announcement this week that the Youth Futures, Inc. board of director has decided to sell the Valley Fair Mall property does not mean the demise of the first enclosed mall in the nation. There are no indications it is about to be demolished, vacated or abandoned as a retail center.

David Lehman, founder and president of Youth Futures, Inc., said all indications are that the new owner, VF Partners, will continue to operate the mall at 2145 S. Memorial Drive, Appleton, as a commercial/retail center. VF Partners is a partnership between the real estate development firms of Rollie Winter & Associates and Bomier Properties, Inc.

The transfer of ownership should be completed by mid-December, according to Lehman. He added that representatives of VF Partners have told existing tenants in the mall that those who are in good standing and want to stay will be encouraged to do so.

Lehman said Youth Futures only owns three entities in the mall: the Monkey Wrench, a live music venue, the Teen Advisory Board and the College Advisory Board. The other ventures in the mall are "partnerships" that are supportive of Youth Futures’ mission, he said.

Representatives of Bomier and Rollie Winter could not be reached for further comments on their long-term plans for the property.

Lehman said Valley Fair is still an excellent retail location. "It has the only four-lane road left going all the way through Appleton," he said. "There are 25,000 cars a day that pass here and with the 441 access, it become a very prime location. I hope we will stay here and that at least some of the retail will continue to be youth-oriented."

Lehman said the cost of upgrading and maintaining the mall, combined with "the challenge of attracting new tenants and customers, while trying to raise funds for the organization has proved too difficult to sustain."

Brandon Smith, who with Lori Fleming own Precision Styles, a hair styling salon specializing in black/ethnic hair styles, said he is not worried because the specialized services his business offers will continue to attract customers, regardless of where it is located, he said. "Whatever they do we are ready," Smith said, referring to the new owners.

"If they want to keep us here, fine. But if we have to move, we have already started checking out some other locations – just in case."

In addition to Precision Styles, the mall is home to Area 51, an indoor skateboarding, BMX bike-riding and in-line skating center; CDS Computers; Pro Nails Salon; Westaff, an employment agency; Valley Value Cinema; Ford Pharmacy; Betsy’s Gifts; Unity Program, a behavioral program for high school girls that is a joint venture between Theda Clark and the Appleton Area School District; Fire, a pottery and mosaic shop; The Toy Train Depot; Fox Valley Bridge Club; classroom space for Fox Valley Technical College; Matt’s House, a paintball and dodgeball facility; the Monkeywrench, a music venue for emerging bands; the Hip Hop Shop clothing store; Pocket Change, an amusement device game center; Jazzercise; Extreme PC; Bob Walter Insurance Agency; Chance II Charter School, a joint project between the Appleton and Menasha school districts and The River Church.

In a related development, Attic Theater announced recently that it will not set up shop in the Valley Fair property but will instead seek a permanent home in Appleton’s Industrial Flats. Attic had a number of productions at Valley Fair this year.

C.J. Washington, Attic’s executive director, recently told supporters that it needs to raise $1.5 million to pay for a new facility or it will cease to exist. The money will be used to renovate a 7,000 square foot space in the Edison Building, just south of the Fox River and west of Olde Oneida Street.

Attic is in the process of moving its headquarters from 115 S. State St. into the building on Edison Street, a move that should be completed in a week. But the building won’t be ready for performances for another year and a half and only if enough donations are received to complete the renovation, Washington told supporters and city officials recently.

"Attic came to us originally but after they got here, they decided, as an organization that they wanted their own facility," Lehman said.

What opponents of a smoking ban in Appleton are looking for is to change the ordinance to allow smoking in bars through another referendum. The ordinance that went into effect banned smoking not only in bars and restaurants but in all indoor work places, city buses and city-leased vehicles. Fines range from $125 for a first offense to $500 for a second and subsequent offenses.

It is the most restrictive anti-smoking ordinance in the state and bar owners said it has hurt their businesses and cause them to cutback or lay off employees. The Appleton Common Council voted this week to postpone action on holding a new referendum to create an exception allowing smoking in bars.

The council will take the matter up again at its Oct. 19 meeting. But that isn’t the end of the story. Outagamie County Circuit Judge Dee Dyer is expected to rule Tuesday on a lawsuit by bar owners questioning the legality of the ordinance. And there are any number of bills pending in the state Legislature to exempt bars or to extend the ban to all municipalities in the state.

It’s a safe bet that most people in Appleton never heard of August Wilson, 60, an esteemed Broadway playwright whose name belongs up there with the likes of major dramatists Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams and Neil Simon. Wilson died Oct. 2 of liver cancer in Seattle.

Wilson ’s plays chronicled the experiences of black Americans throughout each decade of 20th Century. One of his productions, "Fences," directed by Sheldon Hampton, played to a sold-out audience at the Fine Arts Theater at the University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley in Menasha a few years ago. The father-son drama of dreams denied won a Pulitzer Prize and grossed $11 million in its first year on Broadway Among Wilson’s other plays are "Gem of the Ocean," Joe Turner’s Come and Gone," "Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom," "The Piano Lesson," "Seven Guitars,"

"Two Trains Running," "Jitney," "King Hedley" and most recently "Radio Golf," which premiered at the Yale Repertory Theatre in April.

Another figure in the entertainment world that recently passed away is comedian Nipsey Russell. He died on Oct. 2 of cancer at age 80. Russell was probably best known for his numerous appearances on "Hollywood Squares," "To Tell The Truth" and "The Match Game"

But I remember Nipsey Russell from way back in the 1960s when he used to put out so-called "party records" of blue material that were noted for their poetic rhymes, wit and sagacity. He used to joke that he spoke two languages, "English and Profane." Yet, compared to the foul-mouthed comedians of today, his humor was free of obscenities.

Russell made his breakthrough on the "Ed Sullivan Show" in the 1950s and appeared on "The Tonight Show With Jack Paar" and variety shows such as "Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In," “The Dean Martin Show" and "The Jackie Gleason Show." He was featured on the 1993 HBO documentary , "Mo’ Funny: Black Comedy In America." Russell was a very funny personality who could charm an audience of any age, race, gender and class.

Finally, the not-so-funny Green Bay Packers. As everyone in Packerland knows by now, they sank to a new low on "Monday Night Football" on Oct. 3, losing 32-29 to the Carolina Panthers. While some critics and fair-weather fans have already stuck a fork into the team and are calling for Coach Mike Sherman’s head, I retain some glimmer of hope that they could win their division and even win a playoff game or two. This is the NFC North Division, where no one has a winning record and some are predicting that a 7-9 record could win the division.

For comments or questions, contact boblowe@juno.com or by phone at (920)-731-4603.