Volunteers take another step toward restoring Colonial Fox Theatre

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A brightly lighted marquee illuminates moviegoers in this artist’s concept of the exterior view of what the Colonial Fox Theatre will look like when a restoration project is complete. The Colonial Fox Theatre Foundation will be seeking more donations in the coming months to finish the work. COURTESY | COLONIAL FOX THEATRE FOUNDATION

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January 22, 2012

By Andra Bryan Stefanoni Globe Staff Writer The Joplin Globe Sun Jan 22, 2012, 10:23 PM CST

PITTSBURG, Kan. — After achieving several recent milestones in structural repair, the Colonial Fox Theatre Foundation has approved final artist’s renderings of the interior and exterior of the historic building, and a business plan that includes full-time professional positions.

The renderings paint the Fox as a cornerstone in what would become a vibrant downtown, and the business plan projects September 2013 as opening month.

Foundation director Vonnie Corsini said the 620-seat theater would be a “professionally run venue” that would fill a specific niche by offering screenings of first-run art house films, showing foreign films and classic series, and offering regional acts at least 70 times a year and national acts at least 24 times a year.

She anticipates other showings ranging from John Wayne to Alfred Hitchcock to holiday classics such as “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “White Christmas.”

Professional positions are to include an executive director, a relationship manager (development), an office manager/comptroller, a technical director, a design/marketing director and a front-of-house manager.

‘NOT MESSING AROUND’

“What it will take is someone who has worked under someone else in another, successful market who is willing to bring that here,” Corsini said of the executive director position, one that she said is key to the Colonial Fox’s success. “That means offering that person, and the other positions, a professional salary comparable to any area. This will be successful because we are making an investment in staff. We’re not messing around.”

Part-time positions would include stagehands, sound engineers and lighting designers.

Built before the height of the traditional movie palace years (1925 to 1930), and between two world wars, the Colonial Fox was one of several theaters that anchored Pittsburg’s downtown entertainment and nightlife district.

At the time, the Colonial Fox was described as having “no glamour, no glare, just that restful, peaceful, and charmed feeling that comes to one when they look upon a thing of beauty.”

The theater closed to the public in 1985 and had fallen into disrepair.

A group of volunteers in 2006 took up the theater’s cause and by 2008 had earned it a place on the National Register of Historic Places.

In recent years, the group has made strides with two grants from the Kansas Heritage Trust Fund and with private donations. The foundation has spent $583,000 on the building purchase and back taxes, a new roof, tuck-pointing on the south and west walls, mold removal, asbestos removal, repairs to the north wall, and fixing water issues in the basement that led to interior damage upstairs.

Last year, the foundation signed an agreement that secured $500,000 from the Save America’s Treasures grant program through the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service. It is being used for ongoing preservation and rehabilitation projects, but it must be matched by the foundation, Corsini said.

“We need pledges soon so we can go out to bid on heating and air, electrical, and facade improvements,” Corsini said. She said that once the building is climate controlled, has restrooms and is well-lit, restoration work can progress inside.

‘NOT A DOUBT’

“There’s not a doubt in my mind we’ll get this done,” Corsini said of raising the necessary funds. The foundation also is exploring the possibility of securing tax credits, looking as an example to a historic theater outside Cleveland, Ohio, that leveraged $250,000 for a multimillion-dollar renovation project.

Corsini said studies of other restored theaters have shown that once the Colonial Fox is complete and can draw national acts as well as home-grown entertainment, then dining and retail investments will follow.

“Restaurants don’t come until arts and entertainment is established,” she said. “You get restaurants down here, then retail will open up. Then you have people downtown, and investors will say, ‘Let’s work on the residential — we have amazing loft space above everything.’ It’s our commitment to be the economic driver for the downtown district. We can dream. We can dream.”

$400,000 to go

The foundation has raised $100,000, meaning it has until Oct. 31 to generate the remaining $400,000 or risk losing the Save America’s Treasures grant.

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