PORT ANGELES — Shuttered and silent for more than two years, the landmark Lincoln Theater is on the verge of stirring to life.
Port Angeles businessman Jake Oppelt said that he expects to sign the documents to purchase the building today.
“I’ll be excited to get the keys, open the door, get in there and light the whole place up,” Oppelt said.
Oppelt will seal the sale of the 132 E. First St. movie house by Wenatchee-based Wenatchee Productions Inc., doing business as Sun Basin Theatres, to Oppelt’s recently formed Jam Properties of PA LLC, of Port Angeles for $225,000.
The Clallam County Assessor’s Office had appraised the building at $230,901.
Sun Basin General Manager Bryan Cook of Wenatchee said Wednesday he will be in Port Angeles today to make the sale official.
Cook said he signed the purchase-and-sale agreement earlier this week.
Today, the sale “will close and the funds will transfer per the contract,” Oppelt said Thursday.
Live-performance venue
Oppelt, co-owner of Next Door Gastropub 1½ blocks west of the Lincoln, said he hopes to reopen the 100-year-old movie house as a live-performance venue that will include a full service restaurant in “roughly a year” following renovations.
“Construction will start right away,” he said.
Oppelt said he wants to transform the 480-seat theater, which will keep its name, into a community venue for plays, musicals and concerts.
His said his plans are in keeping with those of the nonprofit Port Angeles Theatre Project, which was unable to raise enough to purchase the building.
“The goal here is to bring a premiere entertainment venue to Port Angeles,” Oppelt said.
“The plan will be focused on some larger, more higher profile events, those that will not be on an everyday basis but also will be a premiere venue downtown that will actively be seeking out other uses,” Oppelt said.
“I urge anyone who has ideas or uses they are interested in for the venue to get in touch with me.
“I’d definitely like to talk to them.”
Planned renovations
Renovations will include removal of all three movie screens.
The balcony, now closed to accommodate one of those screens, will be opened up to add the feel of an auditorium.
A wall dividing the two mini-theaters on the first floor also will be removed.
“At this point, we don’t know what kinds of things we might run into with different hold-ups and the building process, and any permitting,” he said.
“I anticipate it taking a while to get finished, but I do believe we definitely, fully plan on seeing this place open up around roughly a year.
“It might be the same time next year.”
Oppelt said he does not know how much renovation will cost.
“It probably will fall between the $500,000 to $700,000 range,” he said.
Financial help
Oppelt said he would look for financial help among residents such as those who donated to the Theatre Project’s Light Up the Lincoln campaign.
He would not identify a silent partner, a Port Angeles businessman who is part of the project.
“I’m definitely going to be seeking funding out there,” Oppelt said.
“I definitely would like to see the community step forward with our project just as they did with the other one.
“I am eager to talk to people who are also eager to help out.”
Oppelt, 32, a 2002 Port Angeles High School graduate, started his first business, the house-painting company Liquid Painting, at 19.
Along with Next Door Gastropub, he is owner or part owner of three other Port Angeles businesses: Liquid Painting, Moss boutique, and OOT Properties, which owns a parking lot and a building — which once housed Maurices — on Laurel and West First streets.
Production company
Key to the venture’s success is a production company that will seek out and bring shows to the theater and produce concerts.
Oppelt said he will start that company the closer he gets to opening the new Lincoln Theater.
For Cook, the change in ownership is somewhat bittersweet.
The Lincoln was the first theater his company owned in 1971.
They closed it in March 2014 after facing the expensive conversion to digital-format movies.
“It’s like any other business that gets tired and old,” Cook said.
“After a while, things change over the years. People have different expectations.”
Sun Basin still owns Deer Park Cinema east of Port Angeles, a multiplex that Cook said will be renovated in early 2017.
“We thought it best to do something else and keep the movie theaters there going,” he said.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
