PORT ANGELES — Efforts to purchase the Lincoln Theater for $235,000 are moving forward despite a decision by the building’s Wenatchee-based owner to put the shuttered downtown movie house back on the market, said fundraiser and event producer Scott Nagel.
Sun Basin Theatres General Manager Bryan Cook said Thursday that the company has yet to find a replacement for listing agent and Port Angeles real estate agent Dan Gase but wants to make the building available to other buyers.
Cook said a contract offer with Gase for Karen Powell and Nagel, married business partners, to purchase the building for $235,000 has expired.
Powell and Nagel, producers of the Dungeness Crab & Seafood Festival, plan to transfer the building to the Port Angeles Theatre Project, Nagel said.
Organizers want to gut the 98-year-old building at 132 E. First St., and transform it into a 480-seat theater for concerts, plays, film festivals and other community productions.
“We’ve been waiting patiently for the theater group to put something together with their nonprofit,” Cook said.
“Obviously, we are looking to go in another direction and list with another agent and see what we can do with another agent.
“If this group comes back to us, or if we have another group come to us, we’ll just see what’s in the future.
“We’ve been waiting and hoping this would come together, and it’s not happening in a real quick pace, so we’ve got to move on and do what we plan to do there.”
Cook said the building was listed at $259,000 before it was under contract for $235,000.
In 2015, the Clallam County Assessor’s Office appraised the 10,031-square-foot building at $230,901.
Cook did not know when it would be relisted.
“We are just kind of in limbo for the moment,” he said.
“We are just doing our due diligence to find another party to list with.
“The overall goal is to have the building put to better use and have it be part of the community in a different capacity [than a movie theater] but still do some good for the community.”
Nagel said local Lincoln Theater fans were looking forward to making the $235,000 offer as soon as the money is raised.
“In a big fundraising campaign, there will be ups and downs, and we just keep working,” he said.
Lincoln Theater acquisition fundraisers have been on a roller-coaster ride of highs and lows in recent weeks.
It took donors just two weeks this month to make good on $55,000 in pledges to buy the darkened theater from Sun Basin.
But Nagel is trying to reel in one that got away: An anonymous donor who reneged this month on a $75,000 pledge without saying why.
Nagel said Thursday he expects to reach $112,000 by Jan. 31.
Organizers had hoped to reach $185,000 toward the contract price.
“We just got a note saying they were unable to fulfill the pledge,” Nagel said this week.
“They just said, we wish you luck, and that was it.
“We’re trying to find out more information to talk to them.
“That’s the nature of the game.
“When all the pledges are coming in, you just don’t know who’s going to fulfill their pledges and who’s not.”
But Nagel said getting to the 50 percent mark in two weeks “makes us feel really good” about raising enough to purchase the building.
“We just keep chugging away at it.”
Nagel said the donation was pulled back before actress Mindy Gelder, Border Patrol Agent Mathew Rainwater, Realtor Deborah Spinks, director and producer Sarah Tucker and architect Michael Gentry were named to the nonprofit Port Angeles Theater Project board of directors, further firming up the organizational structure to move forward on the project.
They join Nagel, former Peninsula Daily News publisher John Brewer, and Kokopelli Grill and Coyote Pub owner Michael McQuay.
Four more members will be named during 2016.
All are volunteers.
The Port Angeles Theatre Project would purchase and own the building as a nonprofit, tax-exempt corporation.
Gentry will step down when a new director is chosen but will continue as architectural adviser.
Donors also can gain by contributing to the cause.
Until the effort gains its own tax-exempt status, contributors can deduct their contributions on their income tax returns under the auspices of the Olympic View Community Foundation, formerly known as the Sequim Community Foundation, which will process and manage all fundraising funds by holding them in escrow.
“The Olympic View Community Foundation will be the fiscal sponsor of the Port Angeles Theatre Project,” Nagel said.
“With the Olympic View foundation and our volunteers, we’re still building an organization.
“Obviously, it’s taking longer than we thought.
“Whatever time it takes, we’ll just keep plugging away at it.”
Gase’s name as the listing agent recently was removed from the marquee.
Nagel said Gase, with Coldwell Banker Uptown Realty, will represent the Port Angeles Theatre Project in future negotiations with Sun Basin.
Gase, also a Port Angeles City Council member, said last week his contract as the listing agent ended four months ago.
“I was disappointed Scott and his group weren’t able to put it together as quickly as originally hoped, but I am still excited that they are trying.”
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
