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Basin PBS Hopes To Renovate Historic Ritz Theater
Basin PBS Hopes To Renovate Historic Ritz Theater 1/11/13
jhendricks@cbs7.com
January 11, 2013
(Midland)- It's a $2.7 million dollar project to renovate a historic theater in downtown Midland, and one local non-profit is hoping to call it home.
Work hasn’t started just yet, but soon new life Basin PBS and the Ritz Theater.
The theater opened in the late 1920's and stayed open until newer multi-screen theaters overshadowed it.
85 years after it opened for business, Basin PBS and the Ritz Cultural Event Center Incorporated are working together to bring it back to life.
Jane Wolf, a board member for Basin PBS told CBS 7: "It will be accessible to the public, but we’ll be bringing into your living room from the historic Ritz Theater, all of the wonderful PBS programs you’ve been enjoying all these years."
It's a $2.7 million dollar project that will bring it back to life to be used by Basin PBS as a studio and learning center, and an event center to be used by the community.
John Kennedy represents the Midland City Council "Tax Incentive Reinvestment Zone".
He says this project is perfect for the Midland downtown scene: "The fact that PBS wants to come down here and office here and to be able to provide meeting space and other things. It’s going to really add a lot of value to downtown. "
The Ritz has been a bar, and used for some theater projects recently, but over the years has seen better times.
The Ritz Cultural Event Center Incorporated is excited that the historic site can once again shine brightly.
Art Wiebusch represents the Ritz: "The conservatory. We are interested in keeping the front as much as possible the way it was. We are renovating the front which they are too, and the inside is going to be flexible enough for their needs. From filming to stage crews and this and that and the other."
Basin PBS says donations have been coming in and they are at 81% of their goal to get it back open, but your help is needed.
If you would like to help Basin PBS reach their goal, call them at 563-5728, or go to www.basinpbs.org.