Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Joe Downtown: Save the Huntridge campaign is successful, raises over $150,000

Huntridge Theater Tour

Sam Morris / Las Vegas Sun

The Huntridge Theater marquee advertises a website seeking support in its preservation Thursday, June 27, 2013.

Huntridge Theater

An exterior view of the Huntridge Theater on the southeast corner of East Charleston Boulevard and Maryland Parkway Monday, Jan. 16, 2012. Designed by architect S. Charles Lee, the theatre opened on October 10, 1944. It  has been closed since January 1, 2002. Launch slideshow »

Huntridge Theater Tour

Michael Cornthwaite gives Edythe Katz, one of the early owners of the the Huntridge Theater, a tour of the dilapidated theater Thursday, June 27, 2013. Launch slideshow »

With a few days to spare, Huntridge Revival LLC has raised more than the $150,000 it had targeted through an online campaign.

As of 3:30 p.m. Monday, the Save the Huntridge campaign on indiegogo.com had raised $152,112 in contributions from a little more than 500 people.

One of the late donors is listed as The Killers, the name of the internationally known rock band from Las Vegas. The amount it contributed is listed as “undisclosed.”

The campaign began June 7 and ends Wednesday at midnight. Downtown Las Vegas mainstay Michael Cornthwaite and partner Joey Vanas wanted to raise $150,000 from the community, equal to 1 percent of the $15 million to buy ($4 million) and renovate ($11 million) the building.

The $150,000 will be used to hire architects for initial renderings, for building inspection, soil sampling and other expenses. It does not mean, however, that Huntridge Revival owns the building. It has until the end of December to raise $4 million from investors to purchase the 69-year-old building from the Mizrachi family.

The purchase price is for more than the theater. Two adjacent buildings would be part of the purchase. Though exact programming is still to be determined, those buildings could be turned into arts classrooms, restaurants, a museum and more.

In one Facebook post, one of the Huntridge Theater volunteers wrote that this was only the fifth indiegogo.com campaign to have succeeded in reaching a goal beyond $100,000.

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