Ruben Sholinyan was searching for a new house earlier this year. What he found instead was a local landmark in need of saving.
Strand Theatre, located on Main Street in Kendallville, had brought entertainment to the community for over 100 years, but a rapidly changing industry, financial hardship, and a global pandemic made it difficult for the doors to stay open. Sholinyan is a Michigan native who was drawn to the unique space, but as he dove in further, he found himself intrigued by the history and community behind the theater that kept the theater going for so long.
“It was less ‘this community loves this theater’ first and more ‘it would be freaking sweet to own a movie theater,’ and that’s what drove all of it,” Sholinyan says. “But I did a ton of research, and there is just so much history behind this building.”…