“Save The Historic Huntridge Theater!” - 11 Days Left

posted by Ross Melnick on July 6, 2013 at 12:33 am

Earlier this week I wrote about the importance of indiegogo, Kickstarter, and other fundraising sites that have helped independent cinemas convert to digital projection and/or keep the doors open during difficult times. I’m back this weekend with an update on a new effort to restore and reopen the long-closed Huntridge Theater in Las Vegas, Nevada. This S. Charles Lee-designed movie house is drifting away and may face demolition in 2017 when it loses its protected status. This would be a big loss for Las Vegas and for historic theaters.

A new group has mounted an effort to restore and operate the theater and needs startup funds of $150,000. (The total project is slated to cost $10 million.) Where does the money go? “We extended all our personal financial resources to come up with the first $60k for the non-refundable deposit and appraisals to make this process possible. The next chunk of deposit ($50k) is due immediately after this campaign ends, and we have an estimated $100k of required costs before we can start bringing in (already very interested) private investors for the project. These costs include remediation due diligence, environmental certifications, appraisals, legal work, renovation design work and marketing materials, etc, all by the end of the summer. These start-up costs would normally be much more for a project of this magnitude, but we expect that we’ll be able to get it all done very efficiently thanks to many tentative offers we’ve received to volunteer professional services.”

(Thanks to Lauren Durbin for the photo.)

Theaters in this post

• Huntridge Performing Arts Theatre