Trinidad City Council is considering how to move forward with renovations at the historic Fox West Theatre. It originally opened in 1908 and closed in 2012 after serving as a movie theatre for 83 years.
The city bought the building in 2018 and fundraising for renovations was originally spearheaded by the late preservationist Dana Crawford. After receiving bids on the project, the city realized the price for the project was much higher than initially expected.
“The city put this project out to bid in 2023,” said Trinidad City Planner Nicholas Mason during a recent work session. “We received two responses. One was lacking a little bit; it didn't address everything, and the other one came in at $3 million. So it was about double the project's estimate.”
Now, the city is at risk of losing a $600,000 grant from the Department for Local Affairs (DOLA) for the renovations after the money has sat unused for the last two years.
At a recent work session, Mason said they have three options.
The city could move forward with the Fox West Theatre project as is, but would need to budget $2 million from its Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) to help cover remaining expenses.
“That'd be including doing the enclosure, all the updates of the utility systems,” said Mason.
Councillors could also request an amendment to change the scope of the project.
“Instead of doing an addition, we can move all those upgrades into the building. We'd probably utilize the third floor,” said Mason. The addition to the original plans would contain the mechanical upgrades for the building and preserve the third-floor dressing rooms. "If we did that, we would probably have to move forward with the architect/engineer to rework the project scope. And this would mean hopefully getting that cost down to $1.5 million."
Finally, the City Council can also vote to return the money to DOLA. That wouldn't spell the end of renovations at the Fox West Theatre, but the city would be down $600,000 for the project.
City Council must vote on the issue before the end of July in order to keep the DOLA grant. It's currently on the agenda for Tuesday, July 1.
