Ansonia is leasing the city’s old Opera House for $1 a month

ANSONIA, Conn. (WTNH) – The Ansonia Opera House first opened 150 years ago, but it’s been shuttered for the last five decades. The idea of renovating and revitalizing the space is getting new life thanks to a new lease by the city of Ansonia.

The Opera House used to be the place to be. Walt Kendzierski bought it almost 40 years ago because his dad had fond memories of it.

“They had boxing here, roller skating, this was the place at one time,” said Kendzierski.

It was a performance space, dance hall, gym, but then in the 1970s, it was nothing. More recently, it caught the attention of people interested in photographing abandoned spaces, sometimes looking for ghosts. We met some of them last year, and a few stuck around and started to clean it up.

“We thought it was a good idea to get it going,” said Anthony Mullin of East Coast Paranormal Photography. “I started to clean in here, I swept up, did some work. We worked with the city and the owner and now, hopefully, we can get this going.”

He went to Mayor David Cassetti (R – Ansonia) who thought a renovated Opera House fit right in with the recent downtown redevelopment. So now the city is now renting it.

“As our Main Street grows, restaurants, people want to take in a show, they can come here,” Cassetti said. “This is a gem of a building.”

Fixing it up is going to take some time and millions of dollars. The City of Ansonia hopes to get grant money to help pay for some of that. the city did get a good deal on the rent. Kendzierski agreed to rent it for the next 30 years for the bargain rate of $1 a month.

“There’s a lot of work to be done, but there’s a lot of potential as well,” Josh Shuart (R), the President of the Ansonia Board of Aldermen. “We have a can-do attitude and feel that we can make this place great again.”

They have to do a study of the building to find out what it needs, and then it could be a nightclub or performance space again.

“Between me and them, we have the vision to get it going where it’s going to be a wonderful thing for Ansonia,” Kendzierski said. “It’s going to be the best thing for Ansonia.”

And maybe the spirit of Kendzierski’s father is watching over the project, too.