NEGAUNEE, Mich. (WZMQ) – The City of Negaunee has made an agreement to purchase The Vista Theater with one condition. The agreement states that The City of Negaunee will purchase the theater for a sum of one dollar from The Historic Vista Theater Peninsula Arts Appreciation Council (PACC) in the event that grant funding is approved.
The city is seeking a grant sum of an estimated $400,000 from The State of Michigan’s Land Bank Authority. The funding is only approved to pay for the costs of roof repair and to clean up environmental factors. Negaunee City Manager, Nate Heffron, says the city is hopeful funding will be approved this June.
“At this point, putting this building in possession of the city puts us in a better position to keep the building up and running,” Heffron says, “if we are the ones that are going to operate it, or to find an alternative private investor to take control of that building and to invest money into that building.”
The PAAC has been working to raise funds for the needed repairs and renovations since the roof collapsed back in August of 2020. Lisa Bowers, secretary for The PAAC , says they are excited to come to an agreement that would save the building and bring the theater back to downtown Negaunee.
“All of us here on The PACC board just really want to save this building.” Bowers says, “We want to become a presence here in The City of Negaunee, we see how much The City of Negaunee has done to develop economically downtown and we would very much love to be a part of that.”
The Negaunee city manager says it’s unknown when funding is set to be approved, but that the city has partners prepared to begin work if the grant is received.
