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The Redevelopment Agency of Salt Lake City announced it would buy the historic Utah Theater. It will one of the anchors of the Downtown Cultural District, along with the Capitol Theater (one-half block away on 200 South) and the proposed Utah Performance Center (just across Main Street) when it houses the Utah Film Center.
Opened in 1920 as the Pantages Theater, the Utah Theater has a colorful history as a focus for arts and culture on Main Street in Salt Lake City. As part of the proposed Arts & Cultural Block, a renovated Utah Theater will be a driving force in bringing vibrant nightlife and entertainment back to Main Street. Combined with the Capitol Theatre and the proposed Utah Performance Center on Main, the new Utah Theater will form the critical mass for a dynamic new cultural center on the blocks between State & West Temple , from 100 South to 200 South. Proposed participants in the Cultural Block include Ballet West (rehearsal space & academy), Salt Lake Community College’s Grand Theatre, the American Film Institute, the Sundance Film Festival, the Children’s Dance Theatre, the SLC Film Center, Spy Hop Productions and the Salt Lake Film Society. A renovated Utah Theater would preserve the last historic theater still standing in central Salt Lake City.
The Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center has turned a crumbling warehouse district on West 300 South into a thriving center of activity with restaurants, clubs, galleries and new housing. The Utah Film Center and the Utah Performance Center will do the same for Main Street. |
