The Town of Stuart received $7,500 from the Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission at the Southern Virginia Committee meeting held in Bristol on May 12.
Town Manager Bryce Simmons said the grant funds will be used for an economic and market feasibility study on the Star Theatre in Stuart’s Downtown district.
“My hope is this grant will be able to really focus on the financial aspects” to determine the overall investment or loans needed “to be able to make the Star Theatre a thriving venue,” he said.
The grant is a matching fund grant for a project between the Town of Stuart and One Family Productions that totals around $15,000.
In addition to the $7,500 awarded, Simmons said the town committed $5,000 to the study and One Family, a non-profit that seeks to promote and support community enrichment, contributed $2,500.
Because the theatre does not require a lot of engineering or construction work, Simmons said the total is a reasonable amount to put towards the study.
“It won’t require any cost estimates associated with renovation of the building itself. It will mainly focus on the funding to purchase and operate the facility as it is,” he said.
Simmons recently received the necessary paperwork from the Tobacco Commission and still has to execute that documentation. “At that point we can procure services to have the feasibility study done,” he said.
Simmons said he anticipates the study to begin at the end of June or early July and be completed by the end of the year.
Once the feasibility study is completed, Simmons said the town will have the information needed to either outright purchase the facility, look for partners to be investors, find a private individual to purchase it, or get a loan either through the Tobacco Commission or another funding agency.
“When I prepared the application, my intent has always been that we would ask for a loan, a low-interest loan, from the Tobacco Commission so that they could add that to their list of successful projects in Southern Virginia,” he said.
While he believes the Star Theatre will primarily serve as a music venue, Simmons said he does not want it to be specifically that.
“I would like to see it become a community institution of our Downtown Stuart, which is smack in the middle of our new historic district,” he said.
Following the completion of the feasibility study and the opening of the venue, Simmons said the day-to-day activities and music scheduling of the Star Theatre would be in the hands of One Family. “It’s always been the intent for One Family Productions to be the operator of this facility,” he said.
The facility is among the properties listed for sale by Blue Ridge Mountain Real Estate. The listing states that the Star opened in 1947 and was totally updated in 2007. The list price is $375,000, according to online information.