Feb 8, 2016 3 min read

Two former members of a nonprofit trust that owns historic Coyle Theater in Charleroi asked Washington County Court to halt the sale of the building to an industrial development group.

Nikki Sheppick and Kenneth Thompson, who were members of Mid Mon Valley Cultural Trust last year, filed a complaint in equity Monday morning in their efforts to block the impending sale of the former burlesque house and two neighboring buildings to Middle Monongahela Industrial Development Association, court records show.

The lawsuit alleges a majority of the trust board violated the group’s bylaws when it agreed late last year to give Fallowfield Township-based MMIDA exclusive rights to the property because the association is not a similarly chartered charitable organization.

Trust President Donna Vesely also is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, and is accused of being part of a majority of directors who decided restoration of the Coyle was no longer a goal of the trust, the court record states. The plaintiffs further allege they were not informed of the decision to change the trust’s focus.

Sheppick and Thompson claim the Coyle properties are held in trust by MMVCT “to be saved and developed pursuant to its charter,” which only permits the buildings to be renovated to enhance the culture of Charleroi. The plaintiffs further claim MMIDA made it known to the trust in December the Coyle buildings would be demolished and the site replaced with a for-profit development.

The theater was built in 1891 at 331 McKean Ave., and its screen went dark in 1999 following a showing of the movie “Titanic.”

The trust formed later, and it has been sued twice before in Washington County and struggled from the onset to raise money for the restoration project.

Sheppick is the trust’s former secretary and chairman of the Charleroi Area Historical Society, which paid some of the trust’s bills and is also listed as a plaintiff in the case.

Sheppick, Thompson and other Coyle supporters volunteered last year to begin restorations on the buildings to prevent their exteriors from further deterioration.

They claim in the lawsuit that the defendants “began a process of undermining the plaintiffs’ efforts to fulfill the cultural trust’s mission to save the Coyle.”

Vesely also is accused of having the locks changed after the volunteers were asked to stop painting the buildings. They also were asked to turn in their keys, the court action said.

Sheppick, of Charleroi, declined to comment Monday. Her attorney, Richard T. Haft of Pittsburgh, did not return a message. Vesely, of Fayette City, could not be reached Monday.