As of 2016, the City’s lease on the Auburn Avenue Theater is six years from expiring, but officials are already looking ahead, wondering what to do about the building when Dec. 31, 2021 arrives.

During a Monday workshop at City Hall, City staff provided information and options for the council to explore before the lease ends.

“A lot of the questions, and maybe answers, we need to start early on because future funding and the excitement downtown that a theater can bring, we don’t want to lose that,” said Daryl Faber, director of Auburn Parks, Arts & Recreation. “A lot of the funding comes in two-year cycles, so in 2017 and 2019 state and federal funding for the arts comes available.

“While we’re not looking for any answers tonight, I think having a discussion on the theater, its successes, its weaknesses and what we’ve learned is really important to the community,” Faber added.

In 2007 the City of Auburn signed a 15-year-lease for the Auburn Avenue Theater, today 102 years old, convinced it was situated to be part of the revitalization of the downtown core and poised to become a hot spot for musical performances, musical theater, dance, dramas and comedies.

City officials insisted at the time that the theater could be influential supporting businesses and services that thrive on nighttime activities and draw new development downtown, and that the $75,000 annual lease would be money well spent.

Since then, the City has managed the theater, producing events like youth and community theater, and bringing in comedy shows and private rentals. In the last five years, as the City has grown in its knowledge of what works and what really doesn’t at the theater, total annual attendance has sprung from more than 8,000 in 2010 to about 14,000 in 2015.

“Tribute acts are extremely popular, and our youth theater has really grown,” Faber said. “Our summer camps, while they’re not big money makers, those sell out right away. And it’s just been great to see kids in the school district … can take that passion for theater, like an athlete would with basketball or soccer. (Kids) have a place where they can learn how to make sets, learn how the music is involved and maybe perform for their family.”

Faber added that community theater has been extremely popular.

The City runs the theater as its own project, paying for Theater Coordinator Jim Kleinbeck and 25 percent of theater supervisor Julie Krueger’s salary. Faber said with the theater drawing an annual 15,000 souls to the downtown, some from outside the city, local businesses like restaurants and coffee shops benefit, too.

Recently, the City contracted with PARC Resources to complete a building, community and feasibility study for the theater.

While a survey shows that Auburn residents appreciate the size of the 200-300-seat theater and its downtown location, they don’t necessarily believe it should always be exactly where it is downtown, Faber said.

Arts row?

One scenario calls for the City to buy the theater outright and make upgrades, an attractive idea considering the City’s pending purchase from King County of the old Auburn Post Office to the immediate north and the possibility of forming something of an arts row on Auburn Avenue.

Should the City decide to purchase, critical upgrades would be the addition of restrooms for performers, construction of a backstage greenroom and expansion of the lobby.

Another option is to rebuild elsewhere in the downtown, if property could be found.

“If we are going to be in this game – and we can talk about this over the next couple years – that’s about $1.5 million in debt of 20 years, and if the theater costs $3 to $4 million, we’re already halfway there, and I think some grants could really help fund the other half,” Faber said.

This recent interest dates back to a council meeting in 2013 at which Finance Director Shelley Coleman explained why the City’s Planning and Community Development Committee had decided to take up the subject so early.

Councilmembers listened Monday then weighed in.

“Not everyone can or wants to lease the Auburn Performing Arts Center, as large as that is. This is a community theater, where your child’s daycare, holiday pageant can be put on. For the size of the city of Auburn, we need a dinner theater size venue,” said John Holman.

Rich Wagner supports upgrading to include a greenroom and restroom facilities for performers.

“It’s usable now, but I think it’s kind of a tall order for us,” Wagner said. “With all this downtown building going on, we ought to be looking at whether some of those buildings that face on the back of the theater could be acquired.”

Faber said the City could vacate the alley on the theater’s north side, opening up a possible link with the old-post-office-come arts center.

“I can just see this fitting into our city-scape, having the marquee and the lights and all of the other is just kind of the pinnacle of our crown,” said Largo Wales. “We draw from all over, and we get some really impressive performers at a really wonderful price point.”

The Auburn Avenue Theater building, which began life as a garage or bus depot, circa 1914, was not exactly in the shippiest of shapes when the City entered into its lease with J.B. Douglas, whose family for years had operated the building as a theater. In the first year of the City’s lease, various obstacles, including winter storms, a roof badly in need of reinforcement, and insurance claims slowed progress and dumped salt on some of the early optimism.

Some people from the community hotly criticized the lease as a waste of money.

But with time – and especially in recent seasons – Faber said, the City has discovered how to fill the seats.