The Carson Valley Cinemas sign along Highway 395 in Minden.
On Monday, the New York Times published a story about nonprofits taking over closed local movie theaters.
According to the story, the Cinema Foundation reports there are around 250 movie houses across the country that are nonprofits.
Douglas County commissioners are agendized to move forward with the purchase of Carson Valley Cinemas on Thursday.
There is a purchase agreement signed by the owner for the price of $2.9 million, less than the $3.2 million appraisal.
It’s certainly not a done deal today and might not even be one should commissioners approve it on Thursday.
Private enterprise can be tricky to navigate.
We have every faith that if a private party stepped forward with the money, especially if they wanted to run a theater, the county would happily yield.
Pretty much every single detail about the operation of the business appears in the appraisal available at douglascountynv.gov for anyone with a web browser to peruse.
We wager the effort has generated enough heat that any entrepreneur in earshot is aware of it and if interested could weigh in.
But without an angel investor or wealthy cinemaphile willing to cough up the dough it’s likely Carson Valley’s only movie theater will close its doors when the current operator leaves.
That won’t just affect the movie-going public but also will be an economic hit for the other businesses in the Ironwood Center.
There are certainly issues with the site. Access has been a longstanding concern, not just for the center, but for the residents who live off Ironwood trying to get out of their neighborhood.
As of Friday, is appears that Carson Valley Arts Council may be the actual operator of the theater. The arts council provides a private nonprofit partner that can employ folks to work the counter and take tickets. The theater is proposed to chug along until the county can purchase it out of room tax reserves on June 30.
We think this could be a good use of that money and achieve the county’s longstanding goal of having a performing arts venue in Carson Valley for a lot less than previous proposals.