Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, November 28, 1995 TAG: 9511280075
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ELISSA MILENKY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The Lyric Theater, which has been closed since 1989, will open for business Friday and Saturday to celebrate the beginning of the 65-year-old movie house's revitalization. The Lyric Council Inc., a nonprofit group that has worked for the past year to reopen the theater, recently signed a long-term lease with the property owner, Blacksburg Realty Property Partnership.
For the next 10 years, the council will invest $450,000 to renovate, maintain and run the theater rent-free with two opportunities to extend the lease for another decade.
"The owners of the building just feel like if the Lyric Council is able to follow through on their long-term plan and work it out the way they want to, it would just be extremely beneficial for the whole town," said John Hardie, property manager at HCMF Real Estate and Housing Management Corp., which manages Blacksburg Realty's properties.
The long-term plan for the Lyric is to show classic and independent films and provide space for lectures, live music and small-scale productions.
Although the theater will be open this weekend for a ribbon cutting ceremony, Saturday morning cartoons and the Christmas movie showing, the Lyric will not officially open until mid-January because additional repairs must be made. (A new screen must be purchased and mounted, for instance. A new coat of paint will cover the walls.)
When the theater does open, films will be shown a few times a week with a live event scheduled once or twice a month, said Lindsay West, secretary of the council.
Renovations for this initial, limited opening will cost about $50,000, West said. That money will come from donations and council memberships, which vary in price from $8 for students to $25 for families, on up to $150.
By the summer of 1997, the theater will be closed again for major renovations and then re-opened for full-scale use. During the next few months, an architect will examine the theater and come up with more solid figures on how much the remodeling will cost. A major fund-raising drive will be launched in the spring.
"We anticipate that a lot of the cost, both in materials and labor, is going to be donated by the many talented people in this community," West said.
A part-time theater manager will be hired in the next month to be "on top of all the various pieces of this and to get it set up on a solid financial footing," West said. But so far, the group has depended on volunteers to clean up the theater.
On Monday, Virginia Tech electrical engineer Steve Beatty spent the day tinkering with the film projectors. Beatty, who has worked at Tech for nearly 20 years, remembers watching movies at the Lyric, including "2001" and "Night of the Living Dead."
"I think this is going to be a really great place," Beatty said as he stood in the small projector booth.
A ribbon cutting ceremony will be held Friday at 4:30 p.m. at the Lyric Theater on College Avenue. Tours of the building will be available.
From 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Saturday, cartoons will be shown for 25 cents. "Miracle on 34th Street" will be shown at 7 p.m. for $2.
To make a donation, contact the Lyric Council Inc. at P.O. Box 665, Blacksburg, Va., 24063 or call Lindsay West at 552-2023.
by CNB