Esquire Theater renewal project 'gone,' mayor says

For all of John Buckner's talk, there are few signs that he was ever here.

His former art gallery on Independence Street sits vacant, along with the apartment and office space he rented upstairs. Razing Cain, the downtown restaurant he opened and closed in less than a month, has remained unoccupied since he shut the doors March 29.

His biggest plan of all, the Esquire Theater, remains as it was before his arrival as well, with no sign of the $2.7 million renovation project that he said would be underway by now and re-emerge as a remodeled and decorative 500-seat art-house theater.

"I think he was more talk than he was substance," Cape Girardeau Mayor Harry Rediger said. "As far as I know, we've had no other contact with him and no other dealings. I would think it's safe to say that the project as it was outlined is gone."

Little was known about Buckner when he first came to town in April 2011 to open and run a new art studio. He was a Southeast Missouri native, but he had been away for 25 years. He had been an art dealer in Los Angeles and later New Orleans. He had returned to Cape Girardeau after convincing Karen Eustis, whom he'd befriended in the Big Easy, to finance the gallery here that would largely feature her sculpture.

Six months later, Buckner announced he was branching out with an admittedly aggressive but well-received plan that would save the old Esquire Theater that had stood derelict for two decades.

In addition to promises, though, Buckner -- who could not be reached for comment -- also offered up a few distortions. It was revealed later that Buckner had not finalized a deal with owner Phil Brinson. In fact, he never bought the building at all. There also were no private investors, and Buckner wildly overstated his financial solvency, according to several sources.

Buckner also apparently wasn't telling the truth when, shortly after his announcement, he began telling people that a deal had been finalized with booking agent Tri-State Theatre Service Inc. of Cincinnati to secure film rights. Reached Friday at her office in Cincinnati, Tri-State president Florence Groner said she recalls one conversation with Buckner but that no deal was even close to being finalized. She told him in the brief conversation that if he could pass the credit check that the film companies require, they could talk about doing business.

He thanked her and hung up, she said.

"We never heard from him again," she said. "I don't know anything about him. But there was never any deal, I can tell you that."

Some say now they were skeptical early on about Buckner's solvency, although they kept quiet. One was David Blattner, Buckner's landlord at Eustis Studio at 2606 Independence St. Buckner never paid the rent on time, Blattner said, and he always offered up an excuse. Though Blattner was paid in full eventually, when Buckner left town he skipped out on the lease with two years remaining.

"He was a lot of talk," Blattner said this week. "I liked the guy and everything, but you couldn't believe a word he told you. He'd tell you the check was in the mail. The check wouldn't come and he'd tell you something else. I guess from day one I always wondered if he could possibly make it."

Another was Shad Burner, the former alumni services director at Southeast Missouri State University, who worked with Buckner for three weeks as vice president and director of operations for the theater project and later Razing Cain.

Over that time, Burner came to discover that some of the things Buckner had been saying were not true. He began to see some financial problems. He saw letters from Buckner's bank warning of account deficiencies. Buckner also told Burner that there were no private investors as he'd been saying.

"But John moved so quickly that by the time you realized what was going on, the pieces didn't add up and it was a week later," Burner said.

Burner, for his part, believes that Buckner wasn't intentionally misleading the public about the projects.

"He certainly didn't take any money or anything like that," Burner said. "That's what I've wracked my brain with over the last year."

Burner learned the scope of his job was going to change. Buckner, who had never been in the restaurant business, was going to open Razing Cain, which he described as a fine-dining restaurant in downtown Cape Girardeau. Burner knew he was going to leave the company the next day after seeing how it was being mismanaged by Buckner.

After the restaurant closed, Eustis severed all ties with Buckner, closing her studio as well and claiming that he owes her upward of $100,000. She was caught off guard, she said at the time, that he had promised to run a gallery and then opened a restaurant on his own. Shortly after the restaurant closed, the deal with the Esquire stalled. In April, Buckner said he was rethinking the deal. His talk then was about stepping back and analyzing. But his last words to the media about the project came the day the Esquire was named to the city's most endangered list. He said he was going to meet with Brinson that night to try to "iron out" the purchase of the building.

Since then, he has failed to return phone calls to reporters. He has cleared out of his studio and apartment and left town. As best anyone can tell, Buckner is on a trip to Europe based on recently dated photos on Facebook showing him with friends in places like Berlin and Stockholm.

Officials who once gushed about Buckner's vision gave terse answers about the project's status Tuesday, referring a reporter to Buckner and Brinson, who also could not be reached.

Rediger said he still believes the idea Buckner had for the Esquire was a good one. At the time, it seemed the best option for a building that no one else had showed interest in.

"We were thrilled we had the opportunity," Rediger said. "In this case, I think he got involved in so many different projects that one of his benefactors pulled away. It wasn't a total facade. It just didn't work out."

smoyer@semissourian.com

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