“I want the students here to be connected with the community. I feel like Arkadelphia has really missed out on not having a university feel to it,” Arkadelphia City Manager Jimmy Bolt said.
Renovating Arkadelphia’s original Royal Theater downtown is going to be the first step in that direction.
I was under the impression that plans were still being made; nothing had been finalized, but Bolt quickly corrected me. “I’m not hoping to make it happen, I’m going to make it happen.”
He explained that the Arkadelphia Board of Directors has approved the theater renovation, but he must continually seek the board’s approval for steps along the way, such as the purchase of the building and selection of an architect.
The Royal Theater opened in 1936 but closed in 1976 because of competition from Twin Cinema, the abandoned building beside Pizza Hut. Eventually, Print Mania moved into the Royal Theater building in 1992.
According to Bolt, Print Mania’s owner, Lonnie Jackson, is in charge of economic development in Arkadelphia. Jackson knew about the plan for the theater and knew what it meant to the community to have this opportunity. Print Mania plans to move, but hopes to stay in the downtown area.
In a little more than a year, students and residents of Arkadelphia won’t have to worry about paying $8 to see a movie, plus the cost of gas. There will be a theater in downtown Arkadelphia that will transport visitors right back to the early 1900s. Well, with the exception of digital projection. “My goal is to have the original style of the structure with modern amenities,” Bolt explained.
“I see it being a top-of-the-line theater that will for sure be open Thursday through Sunday nights,” Bolt said. It has been estimated that the single-screen theater will seat about 250 people, including the balcony.
Bolt hopes to have the theater completed around the first of 2010, but to have it open by then would require an extremely aggressive schedule. He is trying to get everything lined up to start rolling as soon as Print Mania moves out.
Renovating the old building will be the first step of many in revamping Arkadelphia’s downtown area. Bolt hopes to create an environment where the stores will be successful and believes the theater will increase business for downtown shops.
“We want to have things for university students to do,” Bolt said. “There aren’t a lot of empty storefronts downtown, so we don’t necessarily need more stores; we need a better environment to get people to come.”
When the theater renovation is complete, students will be able to see a movie then listen to a band or get a cup of coffee next door at Dino’s.
Students have been lamenting over the lack of places to hang out in Arkadelphia since Thrio’s, Arkansas’s largest coffee house, closed in February 2007, but, hopefully the newly opened Dino’s will give students a good reason to start spending time downtown again.
The Artist’s Spirit Gallery is across the street from Dino’s and will feature young artists. It is an opportunity to get student artwork out in the public. Bolt sees the downtown improvements leading to good relations between the two schools and the community.
As stated in the Arkadelphia Comprehensive Development Plan Summary, “After disinvestment and the destructive tornado in 1997, several recovery projects worked to redevelop downtown. Despite many improvements, the recovery planning left the relationship between downtown and the two universities largely unexplored.”
Apart from the theater, Bolt and the rest of the city staff and planning commission have big plans for the city of Arkadelphia, including a new I-30 interchange, turning the highway between OBU and HSU into a boulevard and improving Feaster Trail by repaving it and adding lights.
“I’ve always been asked, ‘When is Arkadelphia going to get a movie theater?’ And I’ve always answered, ‘When it comes to using the city’s tax dollars, other necessities, such as the sanitation, police and fire departments, should come before entertainment.’ Then I realized we’re doing great in all those areas. We should give some time and money to other improvements,” Bolt said.
For more information about the future of Arkadelphia, stop by Town Hall for a brochure of the development plan summary.
As Bolt said, “The plan may seem extensive and impossible from where we are now. It will take many years, but you have to start somewhere or else nothing will ever get done.”
