Beacham Theatre
Despite the new recognition for the theater by the City of Orlando, Mr. Juarez saw the building as a liability with many pleasant memories surrounding it, but with little economic potential. Citing maintaining the building and rehabilitation of the area, he first announced plans to raze the building for an unspecified mix-use purpose and later to redevelop the former Beacham Block with a new skyscraper that would be used as a combination office building and hotel. In 1988 Juarez received two successive approval Certificate of Appropriateness permits from the City of Orlando Board of Historic Preservation to demolish the Beacham Theatre within 180 days. The "Bye-bye Beacham Bash" was promptly organized by Orlando Remembered and attended by former theater doormen, ushers, candy girls, and cashiers on December 9, 1988. However, Mr. Juarez's redevelopment plan and the new construction of a 20-story office building and parking garage fell through at the last moment due to poor timing. Additional parking could have contributed to a revitalized downtown area, but the market for office space in Downtown Orlando was nearly saturated in the late 1980s and there was a general lack of interest from prospective future tenants. Had the project materialized, Mr. Juaraz would have been required to reconstruct a replica of the original Beacham Theatre facade using original building materials of brick, stucco, decorative tile, and pastel colors.
Storyhouse
An account of the history of the project can be found in the Storyhouse media pack.
The Storyhouse building serves four uses: a theatre, cinema, library and restaurant. The theatre is contained in the extension, which is located behind the position of the screen of the original Odeon. The main auditorium can be arranged in an 800 seat proscenium format, which is used to house visiting shows during autumn and spring. It can be reconfigured to form a 500 seat thrust stage for in-house productions, typically the Christmas show and productions destined to move to the Grosvenor Park open air theatre. There is in addition a 150 seat studio Garrett Theatre and linked bar, which sit over the main auditorium. The shell of the old Odeon incorporates a 100 seat cinema, which sits in its own box suspended above the Kitchen restaurant and bar. The lofty lobby between the extension and the old Odeon provides a generous circulation space, which can be used for performances or informal film screenings. A temporary screen can be lowered from the old proscenium arch. The bookshelves of the library are distributed throughout the Odeon building at both ground and first floor levels; they are not separated from the restaurant and bar. The dedicated children's library occupies its own separate room near the main entrance at ground floor level, with a story-telling space. The building, including the lending library, is open every day between 0800 and 2300. For a fuller description of the architecture of Storyhouse, see reference.
Alex Clifton was appointed artistic director of Storyhouse in 2015.