Own a piece of Hollywood history! A limited number of seats from the Hollywood Theater are available for sale, so place your order today. Seats will be available for pick-up on Saturday, November 21 from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm at the Hollywood, 2815 Johnson Street NE.

In June, the City of Minneapolis issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for reuse of the Hollywood Theater building and adjacent vacant lot. Three parties submitted responses to the RFP. City staff, in consultation with a task force of Audubon residents and business owners, reviewed the proposals and determined that none of them met the selection criteria, which included financial viability. Two of the responses proposed a film and entertainment use, although neither respondent demonstrated sufficient funding or feasible project economics. The third respondent proposed a relatively viable business concept of an event space and City staff requested additional financial information. However, the proposal was withdrawn citing inadequate parking before additional information was provided.

The City of Minneapolis has received proposals from three different parties interested in rehabilitating the Hollywood Theater building. The City issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) in June for reuse of the vacant theater building and adjacent vacant property. Proposals were due July 31. The goal of the RFP was to renovate the existing structure to accommodate a viable commercial use while preserving the character-defining features of the building. If RFP respondents proposed a use other than a theater, the RFP required that proposed improvements be reversible, to preserve an option for the structure to operate as a theater in the future, if such an option were to arise. While the vacant lot north of the theater is included in the development package, the vacant land across Johnson Street from the theater is not.

The City of Minneapolis has issued a new Request for Proposals (RFP) for our vacant theater building. The current Hollywood Task Force has worked through the winter to remove obstacles to development. Preservation and zoning issues have been addressed. Perhaps the most significant difference from the past is the City and community’s willingness to support a non-entertainment use for the structure. Proposals are due July 31. Finance and Commerce has the story:

“Our goal is to reactivate the building and we need to find a financially viable way to do that. At the same time we want to preserve the building and preserve its character defining features,” said Miles Mercer, senior project coordinator with the city’s Community Planning and Economic Development (CPED) department.

Over 1,600 visitors attended an open house at the Hollywood Theater on Saturday, May 16. ANA would like to thank everyone who attended.

If you are interested in making a financial contribution to assist with rehabilitation of the Theater's marquee, ticket booth, and facade, please send it to:

Audubon Neighborhood Association
Northeast Middle School Resource Center
2955 Hayes St NE

Thanks to the work of Hillcrest Development, the City of Minneapolis, and the Hollywood Theater Task Force, several improvements to the vacant Hollywood Theater are occurring. These improvements will assist in marketing the property to potential developers for reuse. First, the house north of the theater (2819 Johnson Street) was demolished on February 23. Second, the City’s Heritage Preservation Commission (HPC) approved a Certificate of Appropriateness for staging and stabilization improvements. ANA commends these efforts, particularly the City’s willingness to budget up to $90,000 for stabilization work this year. For background information on the Hollywood Theater, please refer to a recent memo to the HPC (.pdf) and "The Hollywood Theater: Preservation Considerations" (.pdf)

In order to pursue a renovation of the Hollywood Theater, several procedural steps must be taken. One of those steps is establishing a City-sanctioned project area. The Department of Community Planning and Economic Development (CPED) has put together some specifics about the project area, the goal of the project, and some other guidelines. Together, all that info is called the Hollywood Theatre Redevelopment Plan.

This plan only defines how the project can move forward in general terms. It does not cover exact details of how the Hollywood structure might be renovated, nor does it dictate what will become of the vacant lot across Johnson Street.