West Bend theater’s reopening creates area concert venue
Grand opening was going to include Cory Chisel, but he rescheduled
Ahistoric theater’s reopening should help continue West Bend’s downtown revitalization, while also creating a new concert venue that draws patrons from Milwaukee and its northern suburbs. ❚ West Bend Theatre, which closed in 2006, is now known as The Bend after a one-year, $4.1 million renovation.
The 330-seat theater, 125 N. Main St., will show movies, host concerts, comedy shows and other live performances, and provide a venue for corporate meetings and other events.
The Bend makes its debut with a Saturday night grand opening. That event was to feature a concert by singersongwriter Cory Chisel, but Chisel is rescheduling his performances due to concerns about the coronavirus pandemic.
The nonprofit theater also has booked some comedy shows and other bands, and will also show indie and classic films.
While financing for the theater’s restoration included large grants as well as individual donations, The Bend hopes to earn 80 percent of its annual revenue. The remaining share would come from continual fundraising, said Jeff Potts, executive director.
“It’s a very aggressive business model,” Potts told the Journal Sentinel.
“But we think it’s the only way that we can exist,” said Potts, whose resume includes operating The Howard, an Oshkosh events venue, and serving as a manager at Oshkosh’s Grand Opera House.
“We want to be a volume-based business,” he said.
“People will enjoy a program at the theater, then go to dinner or shop at the locally owned businesses.”
Anna Jensen Downtown West Bend Association events director
The Bend wants to operate an average of three nights weekly throughout the year, while drawing at least 120 people each night — about one-third of its capacity.
About 40 percent of those events will be movies, Potts said, with a similar share devoted to live entertainment. The remaining 20 percent will be class reunions, corporate meetings and other events.
The movies will not be first-run films, which would compete with the 10-screen West Bend Cinema.
But the live performances hope to draw patrons from a 20- to 30-mile radius, Potts said.
That includes Milwaukee, as well as communities such as Germantown, Menomonee Falls and Mequon.
“I think we’re going to provide a choice for people who live in the northern suburbs,” he said.
Another key will be concessions. The Bend, which has a license to sell beer, wine and spirits, is counting on food and drink sales to drive much of its revenue, Potts said. The theater’s annual budget will be around $450,000.
The building’s restoration occurred over the past year. But it was a production years in the making.
West Bend Theatre opened in 1929 — within weeks of the stock market crash that launched the Great Depression.
It operated as a single-screen cinema until the 1970s, when it was divided into two screens.
A third screen was added in 1992, but West Bend Theatre eventually was unable to compete with larger cinemas. It closed in 2006.
By January 2017, a plan had surfaced to demolish most of the building but preserve the front facade, featuring the marquee, as an entry way into a new park and outdoor amphitheater that would overlook the Milwaukee River.
The group advocating the park and amphitheater plan was led by Mike Husar, owner of neighboring business Husar’s Fine Diamonds.
The demolition plan “galvanized the community,” said Caroline “Kine” Torinus, a community activist and vice president of Historic West Bend Theatre Inc.
The nonprofit group was organized in 2016. It created conceptual plans to renovate the building into a venue for live performances, as well as weddings and other events.
Historic West Bend Theatre later refined that proposal to include movies. And it began raising funds.
In July 2017, the group bought the property for $250,000 from Ascendant Holdings LLC. That development firm, led by West Bend native Matt Prescott, had purchased the building in 2012 to preserve it for a future use.
Fundraising for the theater’s restoration included $500,000 from West Bend Mutual Insurance Co., and $250,000 each from National Exchange Bank and Trust and Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., Torinus said.
But the single-biggest financing sources were state and federal historic preservation tax credits that totaled $1.5 million.
The approval process for those tax credits took about a year, with renovations finally starting in April 2019, Torinus said.
The project completely gutted the building, which received a new roof and interior furnishings, as well as new plumbing, electrical and heating/air conditioning systems.
The theater’s blade-style sign was restored, and its entrance marquee was replicated with updated electronic panels. Dressing rooms for performers were added in the basement, and the stage was refurbished and extended.
MSI General, of Oconomowoc, is the project’s design-build contractor. That work also was overseen by Nic Novaczyk, president and chief executive officer of Evidence Development Cos., and president of Historic West Bend Theatre.
Conrad Schmitt Studios Inc., of New Berlin, was hired to restore stenciled art work, as well as decorative painting on the building’s pilasters, beams and ceiling.
An initial project estimate rose from $3.4 million to $4.1 million, Potts said.
That was driven by higher than expected costs to restore artwork that was discovered beneath old coats of paint, as well as the expense of installing highgrade digital projection equipment and a Dolby sound system, Potts said.
“It’ll rival any theater,” he said. Business operators and city officials believe The Bend will attract more people to downtown, and drive additional development.
“People will enjoy a program at the theater, then go to dinner or shop at the locally owned businesses,” said Anna Jensen, Downtown West Bend Association events director.
Downtown’s ongoing revitalization includes plans to build a public walkway on the Milwaukee River’s west bank, said Adam Gitter, city economic development director.
Meanwhile, construction is to start soon on a 68-room Marriott TownePlace Suites extended-stay hotel at the southwest corner of South Forest Avenue and Water Street, about a five-minute walk from The Bend.
The Hub, a nearby coffeehouse, has reinvested in its location, and a new downtown pub also is in the works, Gitter said.
“Everybody wants to be down here and be a part of this,” he said.