The Carson Valley Cinemas sign along Highway 395 in Minden.
The county’s agreement to purchase Carson Valley Cinemas will keep the Minden movie theater open for another year, Community Services Director Brook Adie told Douglas County Parks & Recreation advisors on March 4.
The purchase agreement goes into effect on July 2, if all continues to go according to plan, Adie said.
In the meantime, an operating agreement with Carson Valley Arts Council is in development and could go to county commissioners in the next month or so, depending on the timing of the meetings.
“That will provide a lot of information about the relationship between the county and the arts council,” Adie said.
In the meantime, the current operator has agreed to continue to run the theater for a year.
“For the next year, there really aren’t going to be any changes that anybody is going to see,” Adie said. “When you purchase a ticket, that’s to go to the Carson Valley Arts Council and they’ll determine where that funding is going to go. It will pay for the staff and the operator Russ Levinson, utilities and operations.”
Adie said that once the theater is in county hands, the department will contract with an architect and begin the public process to obtain feedback from the community on what people would like to see in a performing arts center.
Douglas County commissioners voted 5-0 on Feb. 20 for a $2.9 million agreement to purchase the theater using one-time room tax reserves.
The purchase will be included in the county’s budget process, which begins at the end of the month.
According to the appraisal, the net operating income for the cinemas is $230,341 a year.
Built in 1998, the cinemas consist of 23,026 square feet in the eight theaters and a 3,680 square foot mezzanine.
Funding for the purchase will come from $5 million in room tax reserves generated during the pandemic when Community Services was mostly shut down and hotels reopened to record occupancy.