by Jim Boyle
Editor
Members of the Elk River Area Chamber of Commerce and the community came for sneak peek on June 18 at the new offices of Price Homes and the rest of the 75,000-square-foot building that used to be home to the Elk River movie theater.
“We’ve been looking for a space for the last few years,” Price Homes owner Adam Price said. “We weren’t looking for something this big of a space, and we wanted something on Highway 169 here and this became available.
“We just need a small space and now we have the rest of it we’re going to start building out and we want to try and get the word out.”
Price said operations at the current office are bursting at the seams.
After a ceremonial ribbon cutting for the 13,000 square feet of offices and showroom for Price Homes, Price and his crew gave tours of the other 62,000 square feet of space that is being gutted and turned into something special for the community and businesses that decide to locate there.
There will be up to 10 business suites on the north end that used to be home to 10 theaters. That still leaves the center of the theater where tickets and concessions were sold and the space where a bank of theaters showed six movies at a time on the south end.
“We’re saving one big space for something bigger, something like an event space,” said Price, who took a large group on a tour of the construction zone.
The builder of custom homes and commercial facilities called the old theater job site a work in progress.
“This is when everything looks nasty and dirty,” he said. “You come here in three months, everything will be nice and clean and at least a shell and ready for improvements. But right now we’re in the dirty work (stage) of it all. We’re trying to bring the building back to life. And make some nice spaces for people.”
The tour included a trip up to a mezzanine that was set between the theaters where the projectors rolled for the silver screens. The holes in concrete block walls showed each former theater in various states of deconstruction and re-construction.
“This where all the projectors were,” Price said. “And it was always freezing up here. They would have the AC blasting to keep the equipment cold.”
By fall, the former theaters will be turned into suites ranging in size from 2,500 to 3,500 square feet.
“We envision some people are probably going to take a couple spaces,” Price said. “We might have to knock out a wall, or (make) some pass throughs in between the units.”
In each of the former theaters, work crews are in the process of hauling in fill for leveling floors (about four feet worth), and cutting holes in the exterior walls for doors and windows.
“What’s nice is every unit is divided by block walls. It will be very quiet, very private,” Price said, noting the theater company, of course, went overboard on sound-deadening walls. “It’s crazy. So very quiet.”
The work to turn these spaces into suites will go on through the summer with build-to-suit improvement efforts starting in the fall, Price said.
The ceilings can be up to 18 feet in height. “Whatever the tenant wants,” Price said.
Work has also commenced on the exterior of the building that will make the building “look new again,” Price said.
On the south end of the former theater, there has been some serious demolition to remove seating and walls before dirt was hauled in and leveled out for the beginnings of the larger space to anchor the facility.
As people walked to the center of the building, memories flooded in as much of the theater carpeting and concessions counter still remains.
As people toured, they were greeted with illustrations of what could be included in the building from a restaurant, pickle ball courts and a coffee shop to name a few.
“This will be part of the big space, and it will have its own separate entrance,” Price said while standing at the threshold of the center hallway to the future suites. “You can see, we’re doing a dividing wall here.”
The size of the center space will be about 26,000 to 29,000 square feet, Price said.
A sign marketing the spaces — large and small — will go up on the wall facing the new freeway along Highway 169. It will have Price’s phone number and website at https://www.pricehomes.com.
Elk River Mayor John Dietz said he thinks the facility will be a great addition to the city.
“They have big plans and hopefully they can rent out the entire building,” he said. “I am impressed with how much money they are spending to improve the building.”
Elk River Economic Development Department members attended the event.
Economic Development Director Brent O’Neil said it’s great to have Price Homes leading the way on this investment in Elk River and also developing a great space to serve its construction operation for years to come.
“It’s very exciting to see new investment in the former theater space and the space being prepared for new opportunities and tenants,” O’Neil said. “With beautification and renovation projects already underway we’re very much looking forward to seeing the space fill up soon and bringing new life to the building.”
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