Sun-Ray Cinema building is a historic landmark. What does that mean?

An online petition to “Save Sun-Ray” has garnered over 10,000 emails in less than a day, but the future of the business remains unclear.

The 97-year-old building that houses the movie theater, BREW 5 Points and a variety of office spaces is currently for sale, but neither the purchase or plan for the building is definite. Still, rumors have circulated since Tuesday over how the prospective buyer may specifically use the theater space.

The historic nature of the building, established by the current building owner, prevents any changes to its facade — including its demolition, which was the initial rallying point of the petition —  without first getting City Council approval.

The petition has now changed to protest potential uses of the space if Sun-Ray’s lease is not renewed, and a group is forming to protest the sale at the April 23 City Council meeting.

Here’s what to know about how the building is currently protected:

Who currently owns the building?

The building is currently locally owned by the Shad family under 5 Points Theatre Building LLC. Mike Shad significantly renovated the building after purchasing it in 2004, obtaining historic landmark designation for it. The Riverside Avondale Preservation organization honored him for his preservation work on the building earlier this year.

Shannon Blankinship, the executive director of RAP, commended the family for the work they have done over the years on the building. The future of the businesses there would be up to the future owner.

“I think the current owners did a lot of work to gain this landmark status to protect the building in the future, but that doesn't mean that they need to own and operate and be the property manager for it,” Blankinship said. “And so, if the sale goes through, it's really going to be up to the next owner to decide what tenant they want in that space.”

What does historic designation mean?

City Council can designate specific neighborhoods or buildings as historic with recommendation from the Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission.

For land owners, this can bring tax benefits for, at times, expensive restoration work.

For the community, it offers protection to the appearance of historic buildings.

Riverside and Avondale have historic designation, so even houses within the neighborhoods must receive clearance from the commission for potential changes, meaning even replacing aspects as seemingly simple as windows must receive approval.

Any significant work done must receive a Certificate of Appropriateness from the commission, which is made up of experts that can distinguish the “fundamental elements” of a historic building, Blankinship said.

What is a historic landmark?

Obtaining landmark status is different from — but complimentary to — a neighborhood having historic designation.

Upon buying the building in 2004, the current owners worked to restore it to its original appearance: removing the stucco and a “5” applique that were added in the 1980s. Because of that work in bringing back the building, they were able to obtain landmark status.

The status does not overrule the historic designation of the neighborhood itself, but instead adds an extra layer of protection to the building, Blankinship said.

“Hypothetically, if we were to change the rules for the entire Historic District, then this building itself also has the added protections of being a landmark property,” Blankinship said. “So it really has double protection on it, that doesn't really change what the protections are, it just means that if one were to sort of be faulty, then there's a fallback.”

Could a new owner demolish Sun-Ray Cinema?

The landmark designation will remain for the building even after a change in ownership. Because of both levels of historic protection, any process to demolish — or even significantly change — the outside of the Sun-Ray Cinema building would be long, complicated and likely fail.

The owner would have to successfully argue the reason for the changes to obtain the certificate of appropriateness, which Blankinship said would be very unlikely because the building is still in operation.

If the building had fire damage, wood rot or significant structural neglect, the situation would be different, Blankinship said.

“The whole reason we did this work to gain this historic district was to prevent this exact type of situation [of] the potential proposal, even though I think that it's completely unfounded, of demolishing a historic building, especially again, a historic building that is highly functional and in public use,” Blankinship said.

Could the building be something other than a movie theater?

Historic designation protects the building and its outer facade. It does not dictate to a private property owner what service the building must provide.

Sun-Ray Cinema is a private business that has rented the space since 2011. Once any existing leases expire, the business or the property owner could decide not to renew the agreement.

A new tenant could operate the space as a theater under a different name, but Blankinship said there were no legal guidelines mandating that use.

If the owner wanted to change the use, it would have to be allowed under the current “Planned Unit Development” zoning category. Meaning, the owners would have to work within the current zoning allowances or seek a change from the Planning Commission.

“There really isn't anything that would protect a theater from becoming something other than theater, however, the facade and the marquee of the theater building will still be there,” Blankinship said. “So those things would be protected, but showing movies on the inside is not something that the historic designation would speak to.”

Could the new owner be unaware of the historic designation?

Any potential buyer would be informed of the designation, especially because of the work the current owners did to obtain the landmark status, Blankinship said.

“You can't walk through that building and not know that it's a historic treasure,” Blankinship said. “I mean, it still has that 1920s feel of being an office complex from another time. So it's pretty inconceivable to think that the future owner wouldn't have historic preservation or at least an understanding of the value of this property as a historic building.”

What could the city do?

Jimmy Peluso, the City Council member for the area, encouraged residents to come to City Hall and advocate for their community.

Though the current code protects the outside of the building, Peluso said he was working on an additional ordinance that could extend that protection to the interior.

The process would take weeks, potentially months, to create the ordinance and go through the City Council, but Peluso said it could protect future buildings from changes in the future.

If it were to pass and affect the Sun-Ray Cinema building, that would not guarantee that the owners had to renew Sun-Ray Cinema’s lease. But, it would guarantee that the building would continue to be used as some type of theater or approved space.

Could Sun-Ray Cinema close? Five Points building sale and parking garage rumors

Why are rumors continuing?

Even though the building itself is protected, Blankinship speculated the parking garage rumors still circulated because of the city’s history of demolishing buildings to create something potentially “bigger or better.”

But, she said the new owner could potentially see the value in keeping the space as a theater.

“I feel like the amount of people coming out right now sort of showing how much support they have for Sun-Ray is a really good sign that a future purchaser might be willing to see the value in it staying as a movie theater, even though it just feels like that can't be guaranteed,” Blankinship said.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: What is historic designation, how does it protect Sun-Ray Cinema?