KCRag Forum

Theater restoration gets tax abatements

The North Kansas City Council this week approved a redevelopment plan for the Armour Theatre building.

The redevelopment agreement calls for building owner Butch Rigby to receive property tax abatements over a 10-year period to help pay for the restoration. To allow the issuance of those tax abatements, the council officially declared the building a blighted property.

Rigby purchased the Armour Theatre Building from the city for $600,000 in August. He plans a $1.4 million renovation that will restore the single-screen cinema, which stopped showing movies more than 20 years ago.

Yay! 

Their website has a banner at the very bottom advertising the start of rennovations.

http://www.screenlandkc.com/

I can't wait for this to open. 

the screenland website now says a may opening!

And they've also put up a cool, old-school marquee  that looks like it will light up quite nicely! 

I remember seeing "The Jerk" at this theater with my grandmother. Good times...

KC_Hams wrote: I remember seeing "The Jerk" at this theater with my grandmother. Good times...

The new phone book's here! The new phone book's here!

"Navin, I'd love you if you were the color of a baboon's ass!"  Lots of neon on the marquee.  Will bring some life to this stretch.

interesting parallel:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... IVRMTT.DTL
  Mark Haskett's cinema paradiso started with a crying baby.

When his infant son had colic, the Alameda resident and stay-at-home father found that "screaming outside isn't quite as bad as screaming inside," and took to wandering the island city's streets. Their travels ended one day at the Alameda Multicultural Community Center, a converted mortuary where the funeral parlor had been turned into an activities room.

"I used to come here for the sing-along. Then word got around that they were closing down," Haskett says. "I've always said, 'You show me an empty room, and I'll show you a movie.' It doesn't even have to be a big empty room."

With a capacity of just 49 - the theater's seating is a hodgepodge of couches and easy chairs found on Craigslist - Haskett says his Central Cinema is the smallest commercial movie theater in the United States. He fought local government attempts to shutter the theater when it opened three years ago, and now operates with the city's blessing. His next challenge comes later this year, when a multiplex opens down the street.

Currently the only movie house in Alameda, Haskett's boutique theater raises immediate questions: How does it make money? Why do the studios let him play first-run movies? How can he compete with bigger theaters? But Haskett, 38, who grew up working in movie houses near Atlanta, says his business model makes even more sense than the much larger stadium-seating theaters in Emeryville and in Oakland's Jack London Square. After getting a small amount of financing, Haskett says he has made a profit since the theater opened in 2004.

cont....

opening date is may 22.

COOL! Northland is gonna need more culture if they want me to stick around.

The new marquee looks quite nice.  Can't wait until it's lit up.

What kind of movies/events are going to take place here?

The first feature movie will be "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" beginning May 22.

Im building a big retro mechanical man for the stage named  Rosco.

Screenland has what appears to be a new website, www.screenland.com (to my knowledge).

You can now buy tickets to see Indiana Jones at the Armour Theater!  It looks like they will have midnight showing next wednesday to usher in the theater. 

darin wrote: Screenland has what appears to be a new website, www.screenland.com (to my knowledge).

You can now buy tickets to see Indiana Jones at the Armour Theater!  It looks like they will have midnight showing next wednesday to usher in the theater. 

the redesign is "newish". thanks for the tip about tix!

Tried to buy tickets online, not quite set up yet!  Have to call the box office which isn't open during the week!  Grr!  Guess I'll have to drive over there.

Refurbished Screenland Armour theater to open this week in downtown NKC

Details
•For showtime information at Screenland Armour, call 816-421-9700.

•A VIP grand opening ceremony for the theater will be Wednesday. A dedication will be at 7:30 p.m. and the lighting of the marquee at 8:30 p.m. The city will close Armour Road between Erie and Fayette avenues from 8:15 to 9 p.m.

•The theater will open for business at 12:01 a.m. Thursday with a screening of “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.”