PULL QUOTE FROM MIKE INTAGLIETTA: We're a living connection to history. As I like to say, my grandmother's generation built the theater. My mother's generation helped save the theater. My generation, we're trying to improve it. And my daughter is going to be able to have a theater that she can enjoy.

BRIAN MAUGHAN:  This is BUILT, the podcast where you meet creative leaders in the commercial real estate industry and hear how they do what they do.

I’m your host Brian Maughan, Chief Innovation and Marketing Officer with Fidelity National Financial. In our fifth season of BUILT, we’re taking a closer look at the places we gather. From museums, to theaters to stadiums, we’re interested in the spaces that bring us together, and the people who work in them.

BRIAN MAUGHAN: In this episode, we’re talking to Mike Intaglietta. He’s the Central-New York-based Executive Director of the Syracuse Area Landmark Theatre, which is a historic theater in downtown Syracuse.

Mike Intaglietta: There is a, a small and dedicated staff, and we all spend far too much time in the theater. The executive director oversees the staff. So all the departments report to me. I also am the primary booker of the venue. We're primarily a rental venue. So that's my responsibility as well as handling the financial settlement of the shows. And, I'm the primary spokesperson for the theater.

I work most closely with the board of trustees. I'm the interface with the community. So I'm the person who goes to community meetings and represents us at the Chamber of Commerce and things like that.

BRIAN MAUGHAN: Mike has served as the executive director of the Landmark Theatre since 2015. But he's no stranger to the area. Born and raised in Syracuse, Mike attended several shows there himself back in the day.

Mike Intaglietta: I think I was 11 years old. So that would have been 1986. My sister and her then boyfriend took me to see a Rocky and Bullwinkle show. Cartoon marathon, which was great. I remember the theater passably well, but I remember Rocky and Bullwinkle very well. So that really was a transformative moment for me. And then a few years later, I saw Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins and Red Hot Chili Peppers which apparently was a big community event because they let up this, you know, kind of hard rock bands play in this gorgeous Landmark. And it wasn't a controversy, but it was a subject of discussion that they were doing that. Now, all I knew is that I wanted to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Yeah, that was a, it was a pretty memorable concert.

BRIAN MAUGHAN: Fast forward to today, The Landmark Theatre is 95 years old and still hosts shows and events.

Mike Intaglietta: The Landmark is a historic movie palace. It is a tremendously ornate theater, fairly large, 2,754 seats when we seat the pit. And we operate now primarily as a live entertainment venue. So we host touring Broadway productions, touring concerts, family shows, comedians, the occasional film, and then, of course, also private events.

People get married in the landmark, they have their graduation ceremonies. We occasionally will do community films and dance competitions, things of that nature. Anything that requires either a very ornate or a very large setting, we're there to accommodate.

BRIAN MAUGHAN: The Landmark Theatre, originally known as the Loew's State Theater, opened as a movie palace in 1928. Back then, the movie business was booming, and downtown Syracuse looked a little different.

Mike Intaglietta: Back in the 1920s when the theater was built, it was known as “little Broadway” due to the high density of theaters that Syracuse had. The movie theaters were all owned and operated by the movie studios so that they could distribute those films. And so it was Hollywood moguls, and in our case, that was Marcus Lowe, who was the founder of MGM Pictures, who decided to build what was then known as the Lowe’s State. And there was definitely a case of one upmanship, where the various studio moguls wanted to create the most elaborate, the largest theaters for distribution of their films.

BRIAN MAUGHAN: And because of that one-upmanship between the Hollywood moguls who commissioned these movie palaces to be built, stepping inside the Landmark Theatre today is almost like stepping inside of a time-capsule. 

Mike Intaglietta: And so the landmark is now blessed with this gorgeous architecture,  lots of Asian influences in the lobby, and lots of Greco Roman and Byzantine influences in the theater, gold print everywhere in the lobbies, gorgeous textiles, Tiffany designed chandeliers and the like.  The ceilings are 40 or 50 feet high. all of the architecture is very finely crafted plasterwork, often gold painted or gold plated, and a grand staircase with mirrors going up to the ceiling, right in front of you.

There's some elements of Greek mythology. There's a replica of a curtain above the proscenium, which features elements of the Hindu religious figures. The Lobbies are primarily gold with red and green accents.

And it was really meant to be, you know, ‘we are the Best studio, we're the best distribution arm’ in a case to show up the other studio moguls, which we're grateful for because we're blessed with a great looking theater now.

We had five movie palaces, and now we only have the one left.

BRIAN MAUGHAN: One thing from the Theatre's opening night stands out to Mike:

Mike Intaglietta: You know, even from its initiation, that opening night on February 18th, 1928, there was a handbill given out to people who attended, and it was signed by the new president of Loew's Corporation, Nicholas Schenck. Marcus Loew passed away between when he commissioned the theater and when it opened. And in it, he talks about how this theater was going to be an asset for the city of Syracuse and for its citizens, you know, forever. He actually used the phrase, “it is yours.”

And he talked about how it was, you know, another shining gem in the crown of Loew's Theaters across the world. But also that this was something that the citizens of Syracuse and the surrounding County could be proud of and could build around.

BRIAN MAUGHAN: If you take me back to its first opening back in 1928, what would have been the scene that we could have dropped into. 

Mike Intaglietta: So I think first of all, you have to imagine that Salina street, which is still a busy commercial street for us, was dotted with theatrical marquees and blade signs for not just the theaters, but also the stores, you know, shoe stores would have blade signs. And when you entered the theater, there would be uniformed ushers. It was an event to go out to the movies, but it was an affordable event. We had, at the time, there would be people greeted by a string quartet in what is known as the Musician's Gallery, playing above the main entrance of the theater.

It was a place to get away from your struggles, especially during World War II and the Great Depression. It was a place of escape. It was also one of the few places that had air conditioning, which was great during the summer. So it was, it was more than just a movie theater and, of course, also a live entertainment venue.

It was a gathering space, not just ours, but all the theaters up and down Salina Street.

BRIAN MAUGHAN: But “little Broadway” wouldn’t be here to stay. The other theaters closed one by one.

Mike Intaglietta: So it went from the Loew’s Corporation in 1928 until the mid 1970’s.  As time went on and the community moved out to the suburbs, the live entertainment aspect kind of took on, new relevance, cineplexes were burgeoning all across the county and so the need for a 2,700 seat movie theater wasn't really there. By the early 1970s, late 1960s, the theater started closing intermittently and then reopening at the request of various mayors and elected officials until finally closing for good in 1975. 

BRIAN MAUGHAN: After the Theatre closed in 1975, things weren’t looking good. The Loew’s corporation sold the Theatre, which was now in danger of demolition. But just as all hope seemed to be lost, the non-profit group Syracuse Area Landmark Theatre, also known as SALT, was formed to preserve and renovate the venue. The group successfully raised the capital they needed to purchase the property, which was a steal of a deal, for approximately 65,000 dollars. And with that, the Loew's State Theater officially became the Landmark Theatre.

But none of that could have happened without the community’s help and determination to not lose their last remaining Theatre.

Mike Intaglietta: There's a very active community element to this theater right from from the 1950s on. And so when it was threatened with demolition, the community rallied. And this always really speaks to me as well, because the community recognized that there was a lot of change, especially in the 1970s in the urban centers.

And they, you know, they drew a line in the sand. And they said, we're not going to let this one fall away to, you know, all of the department stores that were, you know, busy moving out to malls and the theaters, which had been given way to other uses. We're going to put a stop to this right here and we're going to save this asset because it's the only one we have and we have too many fond memories and we can use this space.

BRIAN MAUGHAN: So with the help of the non-profit SALT and the Syracuse community, the Landmark Theatre officially reopened for good in the late 1970s. And not only was it saved, but it had also been designated as a historic landmark on the state level with the register of historic places in 1976. But with those wins, came a new set of issues to solve: how do you preserve the integrity of a designated historic Theatre, while updating it to attract new audiences?

BRIAN MAUGHAN: So fast forward today, I know that the Loew's Theatre, now the Landmark Theatre, has gone through a significant number of, kind of renovations. So, when did that all transpire?

Mike Intaglietta: From the early ‘80s, there was a three phase restoration plan an improvement plan that they saw, that first phase was in 2000, and it was the restoration of the lobbies, which had fallen into, some disrepair, a lot of it just, residue of people smoking in the theater for decades. All of that gold paint along the theater had been turned to dusky bronze. We restored the mural in our main lobby.

And we did things like that, just beautification in the lobbies. I think at that point we also added a, a first floor restroom, which was a first for our kind in the beginning of. Many new restrooms to come. Then about 10 years later, 2010, ‘11, that time, we expanded the stage house and the production facilities of the theater which would allow us to host Broadway performances, the large touring productions at the time, touring Broadway. A lot of the shows were smaller caliber. And they were just beginning to really increase the production values of those touring performances.

And we wanted to be able to host them. In our, in our space. So we built out the basement. What we refer to as the catacombs, although they don't look like catacombs anymore. We were able to build out some office space that wasn't in the theater proper to increase our capacity there.

BRIAN MAUGHAN: Also added to the long list of fixes and renovations to tackle: the Theatre’s nearly 100 year old seats. The seats even made the local news on Syracuse.com/The Post Standard in 2021.

Mike Intagietta YouTube: “So these are the original 1928 seating. Sitting here your knees are higher than your hips; you’re sitting low… the seat back is very thick but there’s actually not a lot of support there…”

Mike Intaglietta: During COVID, we expanded, we replaced the auditorium seating.

93 years after the theater was built. It was the first time the seating had been replaced. It had been reupholstered once in its 93 years. But it never been reconfigured. So we took the opportunity while we were otherwise dark to do that. It was a been a long standing source of complaint.

The amount of leg room and hip room available. The orientation of the seats was a little bit off. The ergonomic design of the seats was a little bit off.

[Mike continued news clip: “Our new chairs, as you will see, are you gonna raise you up a little bit, and they’re also gonna have a more supportive back…” [audio ducks under]

So we want to address that customer complaint because we want to relieve the barriers to participation. And we want people to come and enjoy the theater and we don’t want our seating to be an obstacle. 

BRIAN MAUGHAN: And to get people to come inside, they wanted the theater to look refreshed from the outside, too.

Mike Intaglietta: We had this original, it was an arched marquee with a curved ceiling, which was gorgeous, and that hung on the theater from 1928 to 1950. And in 1950, all of the marquees were replaced with these box style, backlit marquees that you think of as, you know, movie theaters from the ‘50s.

And it was, you know, memorable and historic in its own way, but it was not, uh, it didn't reflect the decor of the interior of the theater. It was from two and a half decades later. So when we replaced that marquee, we replaced it to the original 1928-style marquee. We replicated it as best we could based on historic photos and drawings.

But it really really changed the look of Salina Street. So we're grateful for that.

BRIAN MAUGHAN: The new marquee went up in 2021, and serves as a reminder to the community who helped save the Landmark, that it’s theirs. But as a designated historic building, I wondered about how all of these renovations came together, and what the impact of those changes have been on the productions and the audiences.

BRIAN MAUGHAN: Did you work with or are you currently working with an architect in the area to help kind of maintain the historical integrity of the theater?

Mike Intaglietta: Yes. We work with Holmes King Kallquist and there are two architects, Jamie Williams and Ben Larsen. Ben Larsen is currently on our board. Jamie was on staff back around the time that the nonprofit took over managing the theater and then he was on our board of trustees for for decades until we finally agreed to just keep on working with him as an architect.

But we, you know, Ben took his position on the board. So he's got just decades of institutional knowledge about the theater and a great love, not just for the theater, but for historic preservation and restoration also. So he's able to help give us just invaluable guidance.

BRIAN MAUGHAN: Give us some sense of who tours there now or what productions are there, what would I find at the Landmark?

Mike Intaglietta: This year our touring Broadway schedule included Mean Girls and Disney's Aladdin, which just left us a few days ago.

And we have upcoming, Pretty Woman, Hadestown, Six, and Hairspray. You know, some of these shows are still on Broadway. Some of them have just recently closed.

Jerry Seinfeld, Steve Martin and Martin Short. We'll have Paw Patrol Live, which I bring my daughter to, which is always popular. We just announced Sesame Street Live.

So we're the primary destination for theater-size shows, in Syracuse. 

BRIAN MAUGHAN: Local news stations know how big of a deal Landmark Theatre shows are to the area, too. They often feature performers, like on Bridge Street, a morning show from NewsChannel 9.

News Channel 9 Aladdin Clip: “A big dose of Disney Magic… It’s awesome” [0-:40 sec]

BRIAN MAUGHAN: If you think about the Aladdin production as an example. What does that look like now? In the streets or in the communities, in the stores surrounding the theater?

Mike Intaglietta: Yeah, well,  right now all the streets in the kind of central corridor of Syracuse are illuminated with, white Christmas tree lights year round, 24 hours a day.

Our Broadway presenter who works with us to bring these shows worked with a lot of local restaurants and businesses. I know that the The coffee shop that's kitty corner from us, Cafe Kubal, they generated a drink special around the Genie who went around and sampled it,

We have a local chocolatier, Sweet on Chocolate, they developed specialty chocolates around the show. And then lots of different restaurants will create specialty cocktails or, or special meals.

Just this year we worked with some local restaurants. We have six Broadway shows, so we got them all to contribute gift cards at a little bit less than face value, bundled them together so people could try six different restaurants, one before each show, which was a great way for people to come down.

They're going to see a different show. Every time they can try a different restaurant. Every time it really shows off what downtown Syracuse has to offer, which is great and something we're hoping to replicate next year. you know. It's a symbiotic relationship that we have with our, our local businesses. If there were no restaurants, if people didn't feel that they could come down and make a great evening of shows, that would definitely be a negative impact on our attendance. 

So we're, we're grateful that they're getting the word out, that they're open for business and ready to serve guests that are coming down to see a show, because that's what makes it a whole night. And so it's great that we work together in order to make for a great experience for our guests.

BRIAN MAUGHAN: That's wonderful. That's a great idea.

Mike Intaglietta: So when we have a show, first of all, the activity in the restaurants is immediately noticeable, especially if you're trying to get a reservation, which you cannot on the days that we have shows and then once, they evacuate the restaurants, there are people streaming to the front door of the Landmark Theater for a solid 75, 90 minutes every night.

And then when we let the show go, they all take to the streets at the same time, and it's the level of activity that used to be commonplace downtown in Syracuse and is not anymore as we spread out geographically, you can immediately sense when there's a show at the Landmark, not least of which, because we have our marquee with several thousand light bulbs on it all flashing at the same time.

We are able to really fill up downtown when one of these shows happens.

And if you talk to the business owners, they will tell you the same thing. You can always tell when there's a show at the Landmark because it's tough to move around, which is a good problem to have.

BRIAN MAUGHAN: Yeah, sounds like it. You know, on this season of Built, we're really highlighting these entertainment venues and these locations where we gather as a community for sports or music or theater and. It's interesting. We often go to the biggest, right? We never wanted to be only focused on those mega projects because the impact of these entertainment venues that might come at a little smaller scale or that might be in a little smaller community is is equally as important. And I think the Landmark and what you just described there is, is exactly what we're talking about, right?

Is you think about commercial real estate, you think about its involvement, they think about it being a part of the fabric of a community. It's it's an interesting financial transaction for sure. But the ripple effect of these type of entertainment venues can't be understated would you agree with that? 

Mike Intaglietta: I would actually even take it a step further. You know, and this is something that I think people in my industry think about a lot. A stadium, which can seat 40, 50, 80,000 people typically speaking is only going to be lit, you know, how many times a year can it possibly be lit with a football stadium and various concerts, you know, might be lit 20 times a year fully. And when they're full The spillover effect is going to affect everyone in the city, right? It's going to, maybe even the surrounding counties with the hotels and whatnot. yoU don't have that kind of big immediate impact with a venue the size of the landmark. It, we will fill downtown and maybe some other areas in the city but not the surrounding areas, but we'll do it eight times a week.

The kind of investment in the arts and arts venues has effects at different scales, but also at different frequencies. And I, I do not want people to lose sight of those mid-sized and smaller venues because we can generate economic activity in ways that stadiums can't always do, you know, more frequently.

So, you know, this run that we recently completed, we had, you know, eight shows in five days, which is fantastic and it generated a considerable amount of business on each of those five days for all of our neighbors.

BRIAN MAUGHAN: All right. So today, how is the Landmark funded? Operated? How are you able to handle these different renovations? Just tell me a little bit about the financial fundraising that goes on, how does that operate? 

Mike Intaglietta: Yeah. So we're obviously very, we're blessed to be able to earn a great deal of our operating income. Roughly 95 to 100 percent of our operating expenses are covered by earned income. We do receive operating support from the County of Onondaga and CNY Arts, which is our regional arts council.

And this year we just received our contract for operating support from the state of New York for the 1st time, which was very welcome indeed. And that's going to allow us to increase our maintenance cadence, get to some of the small scale restoration projects and whatnot.

We do have a very valued, dedicated group of donors, individual donors and foundations who help support the theater. Primarily what we try to do, especially with gifts, of a certain size is dedicate them to these capital improvement projects. We can cover our operating costs. Through what we earn, but we would never be able to earn our way to these large scale capital improvements without state support, very generous support from donors. We still have about 4.5M dollars worth of projects that we want to accomplish in the next 4 years. So we're working hard to go secure that so we can land this restoration before our centennial in 2028.

BRIAN MAUGHAN: So if all things work to your advantage and you get the funding, you get the projects completed, what's one of the major projects that will be done by that centennial celebration?

Mike Intaglietta: Let's see, I think we have 5 projects left on our list. You know, we have our basement area, which requires some refurbishment. We have, we want to replace the auditorium chiller. We want to get new doors on the facility, which is one of those things that's shockingly expensive. And will allow us to secure the facility a little bit better.

And then the big item is the restoration of the auditorium. That's three summers worth of work. We don't want to shut down the theater for a year again like we did back during the stage house expansion, because we've got too much momentum. So we want to make sure to keep that going.

And that's the goal from the time the Loew's was saved, was to restore the auditorium to its original 1928 luster. So, at that point, I will take a nap because it's going to be a lot of work to get there.

BRIAN MAUGHAN: So, 2028, we turn to 100. What's next for the Landmark? What do you envision? How long does this venue last? 

Mike Intaglietta: We're always trying to evolve and adapt to the changing needs. The theater has been very good about that, you know, moving from film to live entertainment to concerts and now to touring Broadway productions and supplementing that with the, comedians and the concerts that come through. Onondaga County has been lucky enough to land a significant investment from Micron, the chip manufacturer, which should have some real considerable impacts on our community's population. Being able to offer entertainment options like what we bring with touring Broadway and concerts and whatnot is a great way for businesses to attract employees.

They need to make sure that when they're bringing people, that they're not going to a place that is devoid of entertainment. So we're, you know, we're planning on how can we prepare our Theatre to be ready for the increased demand that a higher population, that a higher level of wealth is going to bring.

And I think we're going to break our record in attendance this ‘23, ‘24 season.

BRIAN MAUGHAN: Typically, Mike, at the end, I like to ask about, you know, advice or, you know, someone who might be interested in, in kind of going through a similar process that you've gone through. But I'm going to take a little bit different tact, why are these small venues so important?

Mike Intaglietta: Okay, first of all, we're a living connection to history. As I like to say, my grandmother's generation built the theater. My mother's generation helped save the theater. My generation, we're trying to improve it.

And my daughter is going to be able to have a theater that she can enjoy. It's an important thing. I think for us to remember a little bit about what the city used to be like and what the city can be. So that I think is probably the most intangible benefit to the theater.

One thing that we can do. That not a lot of other places can't when we get a big touring Broadway show when we have a Aladdin come through or Wicked or Hamilton it's able to create a common touch point for the community in a way that really only, for example, a great Syracuse basketball tournament run can do, right, for, for a week or two weeks, two and a half weeks conversations steer towards this entertainment that we're bringing.

To have a cultural touch point like we can provide when we have these big shows is welcomed. There's not anything quite like having a great number of people experience the same theater and be able to speak about it or the same artistic exhibition and be able to speak about it as a community. So that's something that we can provide.

Mike Intaglietta: And then, of course, there is the economic activity. We estimate that the you know, the Landmark generates about 9.5 to 10M dollars in economic activity every year between what audiences spend in our neighboring venues, neighboring restaurants, hotels, gas stations, things like that, retail stores. There's what we spend in the community, mostly going towards local labor to our local security companies, et cetera.

And then there's the investment that our shows bring right when they come and they put up people in hotels and restaurants and the like, so it's about 9.5M dollars for a Theatre like ours, which gets– uh, this year we're going to get 400,000 in public support, which I think is a great return on investment for for any community.

BRIAN MAUGHAN: That's fantastic. When is Taylor Swift scheduled to come?

Mike Intaglietta: Unfortunately, I think we'd have to have a three-week residency for Taylor Swift. So we'll work on it.

BRIAN MAUGHAN: That's wonderful. I mean, with having a hundred year old facility, I would imagine there's some probably highlights or lore or interesting stories that, that we should all be aware of.

Mike Intaglietta: Oh, gosh. So, so few of them are for public consumption. Let's see, my personal favorite story: we had David Byrne who had been in the theater back during his time as a, as the front man for the Talking Heads, and I don't know if he had been here in the interim, but he, he came to visit with his American Utopia tour, and it was a great show, one of my, one of my favorites, I'm a big Talking Heads fan, a big David Byrne fan.

And then after the show, there's a period where we're, you know, we're trying to gently let people know it's time to go home. They can't hang out in lobbies forever. And we have some organs up in the musician's gallery and I hear someone start, you know, playing it. And I turn around to yell at them and I see the shock of white hair.

And I realized that David Byrne is, is, you know, finding a tune on the organ. I obviously can't yell at him for that. And then one of his bandmates starts tuning up the other organ. Now, these organs hadn't been tuned in decades. But they start having a little jam session up there for the 15 people left in the lobbies.

That was, that was pretty memorable. It's the type of thing that only happens in... you know, small theaters. That's not a type of thing that you get in a stadium.

BRIAN MAUGHAN: Right. Oh, that's a great story. I like that a lot. Are you planning to be in Syracuse for the foreseeable future? Are you a lifer?

Mike Intaglietta: Yeah, this is, this is hopefully going to be my last job. If the theater will have me, and if it doesn't kill me. It can be quite stressful, but you know, everyone that works at the theater has a passion for it. You know, we love bringing people together. I love bringing people together.

I'm going to keep on making sure that this theater is prepared for the coming generations. You know, we want this to live for at least another hundred years and, and hopefully more.

BRIAN MAUGHAN: Perfect. Hey Mike, thank you. This has been wonderful.

Mike Intaglietta: Well, thanks for having me.

BRIAN MAUGHAN: Thanks for tuning into Season Five of Built! We have more great stories coming up…with our next one in two weeks.

BRIAN MAUGHAN: And if you missed the first four seasons, go listen! You can find all Built episodes wherever you get your podcasts. If you like the show, please give us a rating or review on whichever podcast platform you use. It helps new listeners find us.

Built is a co-production of Fidelity National Financial and PRX Productions. From FNF, our project is run by Annie Bardelas. This episode of Built was produced by Morgan Flannery. Our Senior Producer is Genevieve Sponsler and associate producer is Emmanuel Desarme. Audio mastering by Rebecca Seidel.

The Executive Producer of PRX Productions is Jocelyn Gonzales.

BRIAN MAUGHAN: This episode’s live sounds from the Landmark were recorded by Genevieve Sponsler; the news clips were from Syracuse dot com - the Post Standard and NewsChannel 9’s Bridge Street. The music is from APM Music and Epidemic Sound.

I’m Brian Maughan.

And remember, every story is unique, every property is individual, but we’re all part of this BUILT world.