Old Town Theatre Under Contract
For the second time in recent years, someone has stepped in with a plan to reinvigorate the Old Town Theatre. Jeff Yates, owner of Yates Automotive, Yates Car Wash & Detail Center, and Yates Pizzeria, is preparing to buy it from PMA Properties, in a deal that has yet to close. PMA principal Rob Kaufman declined to reveal a sales price, but it bought the theater at 815 1/2 King St for $2M in 2011, the Washington Business Journal reports. PMA had plans to convert it to retail, but caved to community pressure to preserve the theater and its original 1914 design. When the revived theater had trouble filling seats, PMA closed it and auctioned off its contents, returning to its original plan of a two-level retail space. It even has building permits ready to go in case the Yates deal falls through, Kaufman revealed. Yates' permit application proposes "a theater with live and recorded music performances, lectures, comedy shows, theatrical shows...sporting event showings, public and private parties," and more. [WBJ]
