As we come out of the Covid pandemic...let's consider how we can find partners/investors to use Dante Hall for the good of the Ducktown neighborhood and St. Michael's Church. Below is an ad from Jan. 2020 for sale/lease of Dante Hall.
I am contacting the Ducktown Revitalization Committee to request their help to develop some proposals. The word on the street is that a group of confidential/unnamed investors from New York submitted a contract to purchase Dante Hall in early 2020 but have not renewed their bid since Covid hit the area.

It would be unfortunate, and likely a disaster, if a firm came into the neighborhood and turned Dante Hall into another sleazy casino-type venue. The Church, Quaremba Hall, the new Convent, the School Loft, and Dante Hall are one interconnected building- all with one mission. Here is an article that was released pre-covid. Any practical ideas?

ATLANTIC CITY — The Parish of St. Monica is accepting proposals for the lease or sale of Dante Hall Theater of the Arts with hopes for it to continue as a venue for entertainment.
The parish is seeking an owner or tenant for the 94-year-old performing arts center on Mississippi Avenue in the city’s Ducktown neighborhood and wants to have a deal completed before the summer. St. Monica’s is offering a three-year lease, to begin July 1, with an option to purchase.
Stockton University, which entered into an agreement with St. Monica’s to operate Dante Hall in 2011, will no longer operate the theater, effective June 1, according to a news release announcing the plan.
The sale or lease is contingent upon an agreement that the premises will continue to be used as a center for the performing arts and similar community activities.
“We definitely want Dante Hall to remain part of the cultural landscape of Atlantic City,” said the Rev. Jon Thomas of the Parish of Saint Monica. “Even before Stockton leased it, there were performances there. We would not want them to use it for purposes that are unbecoming of a Catholic Church because it’s going to be immediately next to it.”
News of the planned sale comes as city officials and groups of volunteers have been working to help Ducktown create its own updated identity and attract more customers to its businesses while improving the quality of life for residents.
Thomas said the church would ideally want to sell the hall rather than lease it.
“The parish is a religious organization, not a property management firm,” he said. “It’s not really in our ability to continue to lease it long-term. That makes us the landlord.”
The hall was once a gym for students attending St. Michael’s Church’s former school, and is still physically connected. If the hall is sold, the church intends to come up with an agreement with the new owner for shared use of a common elevator and to arrange responsibility for maintaining an adjoining hallway and stairwell to the church.
A vendor pre-proposal information session will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Dante Hall. Attendance is recommended for all vendors intending to submit a proposal, according to the release.
Jeremy Rotolo, 25, of Brigantine, artistic director of the Atlantic City Theatre Company, plans to attend.
Rotolo’s group has been holding free acting workshops on Wednesdays at the hall. The theater company, which was formed last year, also put on an original production, “Moving to Quebec,” in November.
“I absolutely loved it,” said Rotolo, 25, an alumnus of Stockton. “It’s a nice, intimate theater right off the expressway, which gives it accessibility.”
Rotolo would like Dante Hall to remain a venue for live theater and musical performances.
The hall has been a home for at least the past six years for the Atlantic City Cinefest, which is run by the Downbeach Film Festival.
“It’s a great venue. It’s a nice venue. The people who run it are A1, including (theater manager) Stephanie Clineman,” said William Sokolic, the Downbeach Film Festival chairman, who also would like to see the hall continue to operate as a theater.