Published: June 11, 2008 11:48 am      

Heart Theatre to be auctioned later this month

The long-vacant Heart Theatre is going on the auction block later this month.

Newton auctioneer Art Schackmann will conduct the auction at 11 a.m. Saturday, June 28, at the downtown Effingham movie theater. The Heart has been closed since Chuck Zweck declined to renew his lease at the end of 2006.

Owner Mark McSparin said he’s received at least 200 inquiries about the old building since its most recent closing. McSparin added a couple of those offers have fallen through at the last minute. But he hopes an auction will motivate somebody to buy and refurbish the old building.

“It’s been sitting there long enough that somebody needs to do something,” McSparin said, adding running the Heart doesn’t fit into his business plan.

“I have zero interest in reopening it,” he said. “It is just not set up for me to run.”

McSparin, who owns several multiscreen theaters, said the single-screen Heart would be best run as a family business. Zweck tried to operate it as a so-called “art” theater, focusing on award-winning and classic movies with little popular appeal.

“He had an unusual mixture of stuff that just didn’t work in this market,” McSparin said.

McSparin, who bought the Heart in 2002 from longtime owner Mike Stephens, tried to run the theater himself for several months before leasing it to Decatur-based Zweck, who finally threw in the towel after nearly three years of operation.

McSparin declined to reveal a minimum bid, but said minimum was considerably less than he paid for the theater. He said there’s a good chance the new owners will be local.

“A lot of people have contacted me locally,” he said. “I’m pretty certain it will sell.”

Bill Grimes can be reached at 217-347-7151 ext. 131 or bill.grimes@effinghamdailynews.com.