Running out of patience with lagging efforts to sell the vacant IMAX theater at Newport on the Levee, the lenders that hold a $2.25 million note on the property are moving forward on their own.

KeyBank in Cleveland and the Boston investment firm that bought the note sued for foreclosure in Campbell County Circuit Court in mid-May. Their intent: Get title to the property as fast as possible and find a buyer.

Several potential buyers have contacted the lenders, according to their lawyer, Bill Hayden. The theater closed in June 2003 already two years behind on lease payments for its $2 million projector.

"We can market it now," Hayden said. "We can have conversations. But until we clear up where the title to the property lies, we can't close a transaction."

That's where it gets complicated.

The theater is owned by 3D on the Ohio LLC, controlled by Ron and Sarah Roberts, who went through personal bankruptcy last year. So technically, the theater building is an asset in that bankruptcy action.

And the city of Newport says it has a claim for delinquent tax and bond payments.

The debt was cut when KeyBank and the Boston firm, MTGLQ Investors, recovered $1 million from Cincinnati businessman Don Weston, who had guaranteed the IMAX note, according to the foreclosure action.

But counting the note and industrial revenue bonds, the amount owed still is nearly $3.7 million.

Ron Roberts referred calls to his personal bankruptcy attorney, Robert Goering, who said he did not know about active efforts to sell the theater.

Gearing up

A $6 million investment into the former Cincinnati Gear plant in Mariemont is speeding the evolution of Haney Inc.

The firm, which started 15 years ago as a design and graphics firm, now fills the gap between marketers such as Procter & Gamble Co. and commercial printers and design companies.

While the company vision still is forming, Haney wants to turn the 85,000-square-foot stone structure on Wooster Pike into a laboratory for packaging research and technology.

The six-decade-old building itself is a revelation, complete with an secret executive bathroom hidden behind shelving, stained glass that was covered by drywall, 14 security cameras and rows of empty cubicles ready for the expected growth.

Haney leases the building from Jeff Coffaro of BLC DevelopmentThe investment includes Coffaro's purchase price plus new equipment and other renovations by Haney.

The firm, which has dubbed the new building a "packaging resource center," just completed its biggest project to date. It hand-packed more than 100,000 units for P&G's Charmin headed for testing or sales samples around the world.

Part of the vision that's still under construction includes a demonstration store that can include real-time packaging prototypes, and a commercial printing unit that will be dedicated to packaging development.

Company president Dan Haney wouldn't reveal sales, but he said they increased 30 percent last year and doubled in each of the previous two years. "We've taken a lot of things that have never belonged together before and bundled them under one roof," he said.

E-mail cpeale@enquirer.com