ECCA plans to ask PTC Council for help in operating a new performance theater

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

The move to renovate a local movie theater into a performance venue for local theater groups has not been abandoned.

It has just been on the backburner for a while, partially due to the holidays, said Sandra Jungers, president of the Endowed Committee for the Cultural Arts in Fayette County. ECCA is seeking financial assistance from the Peachtree City Council, and ECCA officials hope to make a presentation to council at one of its January meetings, Jungers said.

The city's assistance is needed since ECCA can't afford to renovate, operate and fund the building's lease at the same time. Renovation costs alone were being estimated at between $200,000 and $300,000.

The three-screen movie theater at Westpark Walk in Peachtree City closed earlier this year and has remained vacant. But ECCA is developing a plan to renovate the facility as a performance theater, which would make scheduling performances easier since theater groups currently depend on school facilities as their performance venues.

ECCA officials believe they can make a performing arts theater profitable with the help of the City of Peachtree City. The group is proposing that the city fund the lease for the two or three years while the ECCA funds the costs of renovating and operating the theater.

The hope is that after those first few years, the building will be profitable enough to at least break even allowing the ECCA to take over the facility's lease.

The renovation would include construction of two stages, adding dressing rooms, reconfiguring the seats and adding sound and lighting equipment.

Two of the three existing movie screening rooms would be combined for a theatre with approximately 300 seats, leaving the third room for a smaller theater with over 100 seats, Jungers said.

ECCA would start a county-wide fund-raising campaign to help fund the renovations if the city decides to go along with the group's idea.

ECCA has been actively looking at other buildings throughout the county to renovate into a theater, including some warehouses and retail space such as the former K-mart store in Fayetteville. But the Westpark Walk location is the ECCA's best shot to get the theatre movement off the ground, Jungers added.

ECCA is a 17-year-old organization that began with the goal of providing cultural activities for the community. The group's first project was promoting the need for a library in Peachtree City, she added. Since then, ECCA has also financially supported Peachtree City's amphitheater.

Over the years, ECCA has raised over $200,000 in contributions and membership dues, Jungers said. And that's mostly relying on one main fund-raiser: the yearly Valentine's Day Ball.

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