Demolition phase signals Cultural Trust still planning Downtown movie theater

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It’s still a long way from opening night, but the first phase of work on a Downtown movie theater could be ready for action.

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust intends to start demolition inside the former Bally Total Fitness Club property on Sixth Street this fall, marking the first tangible work on a project that has been years in the making.

Kevin McMahon, the trust’s CEO and president, said the nonprofit has raised more than $8 million toward the estimated $12 million needed to build the proposed five-screen multiplex next to the Renaissance Hotel.

The trust has enough money to start some demolition in the fall “as phase one” of the project and to further refine the proposed theater’s design. The former Bally’s property was once the location of the Gateway Theater until its closing in 1980.

“We’re in the final phases. We’ve got to bring this home. I’m very optimistic that within a twoyear period we will have a working cineplex. That might be optimistic, but I’m an optimistic person,” Mr. McMahon said.

Those prospects got a boost recently when Gov. Tom Wolf awarded a $1 million state redevelopment capital assistance grant for the project. It was the second such state grant for the theater. The first last year was for $750,000.

The latest grant “helps tremendously because we are now in the final phases and this is a very huge grant. So, obviously, it really has propelled us along in a very, very positive way,” Mr. McMahon said.

He has declared the project a “go” but cautioned that the trust must be careful about how it undertakes such projects given the