The former Carousel Dinner Theater will soon become a church.

Owner Gary Didado says the building is being sold to Community Baptist Temple, currently located on Canton Road in Springfield Township.

Didado says he bought the empty building at auction about a year ago with the intention of moving his company, JW Didado Electric to that location.  He says it wasn't cost-effective to renovate the building for his purposes, but it's set up in a way that will involve less work to transform the building into a church. 

"It's a beautiful building," said Didado.  "We're just proud that they're the ones that are buying it from us."

Financial terms were not disclosed.  Didado says the official transfer should take place in the next few weeks. 

Press Release:

J.W. Didado Electric sells Carousel Dinner Theatre building; Will move headquarters to Kelly Ave.

October 26, 2011, Akron, Ohio – The former Carousel Dinner Theatre building will soon be home to a new audience. Owner Gary Didado, president of J.W. Didado Electric, Inc., has sold it to Akron’s Community Baptist Temple and pastor Mark O’Donnell.

Didado purchased the building at auction in November 2010 in hopes of moving all of the company’s operations to one location. However, he later decided against moving to the former dinner theatre location.

“Once our architect fully assessed the Carousel space we determined that the necessary renovations would be too extensive,” said Didado. “We later purchased property at 1033 Kelly Ave. which better suits our needs and is even closer to our high voltage, truck and equipment facility at 1190 Kelly Ave.

“The new facility will house our office staff, project managers, maintenance department, and provide large areas for equipment and storage.

We are a family-owned company that has been serving the electrical needs of Akron and the surrounding areas since 1958. Our business continues to grow and our number of employees can range from 160 to 350. We’re pleased that even though we are moving, we are able to keep our operations in Akron, which we consider home.”

Within a week after Didado placed the Carousel property back on the market, he was contacted by several organizations interested in the property, including the Community Baptist Temple, which was a primary bidder at the 2010 auction.

“We are thrilled to have the Carousel building as the new home for our congregation,” said O’Donnell. “It will allow us to expand our ministry by doubling our seating capacity, provide more adequate parking and the potential for expansion. Gary Didado has been very accommodating and it is a pleasure working with him. Everything has fallen into place for us.”

O’Donnell says the Temple will attempt to sell its existing two properties at 1370 and 1398 Canton Rd.

J.W. Didado Electric is a full-service electrical contracting company, providing residential, commercial, industrial and high-voltage electrical services.

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