The 113-year-old Roxie Theater might just last another 113 years, as they’ve closed the sale to permanently buy and own their theater building, and there even are plans afoot to serve wine and movie-themed cocktails from the adjacent Dalva.
It was huge news for SF indie film fans when we learned in April that the Roxie Theater was secretly trying to buy its building outright, after having rented the space for decades. And the secret ruse had been afoot for a while, as in April, the Roxie announced that they had already raised an impressive $5.5 million of their $7 million goal. They’re still not quite at $7 million yet, and the Roxie Theater fundraising drive continues, but there is definitely some milestone news today on the Roxie front.
The Chronicle reported Tuesday morning that the Roxie Theater has closed the sale to buy its own building, and now they officially own their own place. The property purchase covers the large Roxie Theater, as well as the companion theater Little Roxie, and the adjacent cocktail bar Dalva.
“One of my favorite moments of my decade-long career here was to see our staff’s faces as we made the announcement,” Roxie Theater executive director Lex Sloan told the Chronicle. “It truly was smiles and cheering and woo-hoo’s and maybe some senses of relief. I wish I could have paused time and taken a picture of that moment.”
As mentioned, the Roxie is still $720,000 short of the overall & million goal, and you can still donate here. But the sale of the theater closed before the fundraising drive hit its goal, because the purchase plan called for a certain timeline to be met on the sale of the building.
The Chronicle reports that the building sold for $5 million, and the sale quietly closed in May.
And so now it is on to renovating and modernizing the theater. Per the Chronicle, the theater is having new front doors put in, getting a new projector, and installing sound system upgrades. Though it may intrigue you more that the Roxie Theater is also working on getting a wine sales license for their concession stand, and is planning to introduce movie-themed cocktails from their next-door bar Dalva.
It was mentioned in the Chronicle’s April reporting that the Roxie was on pace to meet or exceed their pre-COVID ticket sales volume of 2019 this year. Now they that own the building and are free from rent increase worries, they feel they’ll be able to keep those affordable ticket prices, and just focus on expanding their programming, and improving the physical Roxie Theater space.
Or as the executive director Sloan said during the SFFILM Festival in April, “Sometimes I’m plunging a toilet or doing touch-up paint, and it’s still the best job in the world.”
Related: Roxie Theater Explains How They Managed to Raise Millions to Buy Their Building [SFist]
Image: Ann S via Yelp
