Neighborhood movie theaters are challenging to reuse. After over 40 years of vacancy, the lights are back on at the Hollywood.

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CHALLENGE

Redevelopment of the Hollywood Theater is a challenge similar to that which plagues many Main Streets and commercial nodes throughout the country: the neighborhood movie theater stands empty with the lights off and without a viable reuse. In the case of the Hollywood, the City of Minneapolis acquired the local landmark in 1989 to prevent demolition. Despite issuing multiple requests for proposals (RFPs) for redevelopment, no viable options for reuse were identified. The lack of potential funding sources, community support, and compatible uses presented too many risks for any private or public redevelopment. The building has been vacant and dark since 1987.

SUCCESS

New History worked with a private developer and the City of Minneapolis to implement a strategy for redevelopment by bringing financial resources, building community support, and developing design solutions. By adding the building to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), New History brought the opportunity for tax-advantaged rehabilitation and other significant grant sources. Likewise, earlier redevelopment proposals met with substantial resistance from the neighborhood and elected city officials. New History worked with the developer and the City to engage the neighborhood as well as city staff and elected officials so that support for the project could be fostered. Finally, the spatial configuration of a theater combined with the lack of windows makes an economically viable reuse nearly impossible. A phased project was developed so that the exterior could be stabilized and restored with an event center reuse for the main auditorium.