A city funded concept study shows renovating Paducah's Columbia Theatre would cost 5.8 million dollars. Grants and tax credits would cover 2.7 million dollars worth of work on the almost ninety-year-old downtown theater.
Westlake Reed Leskosky architecture firm presented the study to the commission Tuesday.
"The theater comes back on line, then a coffeeshop next door, then a little IT start up happens. And it happens, it really, really, really does happen. And we've seen it in tough markets, markets much tougher than this, where this, as the driver, the economic driver spurs other developments," the firm's Paul Siemborski said.
Commissioner Carol Gault asked the Columbia Task Force to provide a business plan for the future use of the theater. The commission took no action on funding renovation work.
In other commission news:
The city voted to enter into an agreement with Edumedics to provide chronic disease counseling to city employees.
The city voted to approve the hotel development agreement to allow developers to bring in an upscale hotel adjacent to the Julian M. Carroll Convention Center.
The commission heard an ordinance introduction to enter into an agreement with the US Army Corps of Engineers to repair Paducah levees damaged in the 2011 flood. The repairs would be paid for by the US Army Corps of Engineers.
