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Two local theaters are benefiting from State Historic Preservation Office grants.

Thunder Bay Theatre in Alpena has received a $100,000 grant to help with the rehabilitation of the historic building after the July 2020 fire that engulfed the John A. Lau Saloon next door and caused significant fire, water, and smoke damage to TBT.

Presque Isle District Library on behalf of the Rogers Theater was awarded $61,252 to help support the restoration and repair of the original theater marquee, retaining its authentic iconic design and functionality.

The State Historic Preservation Office has awarded $750,000 in grants to support the preservation of and reinvestment in historic buildings in communities along the Great Lakes. The grants represent awards from SHPO’s Resilient Lakeshore Heritage Grant Program, funded through the federal Historic Preservation Fund — Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization Grant Program, administered by the National Park Service.

“We are pleased to have this unique opportunity to directly support investment in the historic places that are so critical to the identity and vitality of our lakeshore communities,” said Martha MacFarlane-Faes, Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer. “These awards will have an immediate impact on the ability of the awardees to continue to be good stewards of these buildings, and we hope that the finished work will also serve as an example of the benefits of historic preservation in our communities, particularly along traditional commercial and civic corridors.”

Currently a one-time funding opportunity, SHPO’s Lakeshore Heritage Grant Program was established to provide funding to private property owners, nonprofits, and municipalities in communities along the Great Lakes that participate in SHPO’s Certified Local Government program, MEDC’s Michigan Main Street program, or MEDC’s Redevelopment Ready Communities program, all of which recognize the importance of reinvestment in a community’s heritage assets as part of ongoing economic development and community planning activities.

Thunder Bay Theatre in Alpena

Thunder Bay Theatre is being awarded $100,000 to support a $1.2 million rehabilitation of its building, which suffered a devastating fire in 2020 that left the building inoperable. The total project will repair damage from the fire and complete critical updates to the building, which will allow the nonprofit to reactivate this key historic property in downtown Alpena and ensure its long-term use as a community asset.

“We are so grateful to have been selected to receive a grant award through the RLHG program for the renovation of Thunder Bay Theatre,” said Thunder Bay Theatre Board President Anne Gentry. “Since the fire, our building has been vacant while we plan its entire $1.2 million renovation. This grant award is crucial to allow the renovation of our over 100-year-old, mixed-use building and will be used to repair and replace our windows, doors, and electrical work throughout the building. We are grateful to the SHPO team for supporting the rehabilitation of our historic building, which will allow us to get back to bringing live, professional theatre to Northeast Michigan and ensure our building is preserved for the next 100 years.”

TBT has additional funding secured from Michigan Arts & Culture Council, Besser Foundation, and First Federal Legacy Foundation.

“We submitted our materials to MEDC for our final funding piece and we should hear back within one to two weeks with a letter of intent to fund,” Gentry said on Thursday. “Once we have that piece, we can finalize our construction timeline, but expect some exterior work to begin this summer.”

Gentry is also the executive director of the Alpena Downtown Development Authority.

“As part of the project, we will also be completing a nomination for Downtown Alpena to be listed as a district on the National Register of Historic Places with the support of the City of Alpena and Alpena Downtown Development Authority,” Gentry said. “Because of this grant, we hope our project will serve as a model for stewardship of historic buildings in our community and promote greater efforts for preservation here in Alpena.”

Rogers Theater in Rogers City

Planning sessions with the Presque Isle District Library Board and the management team are ongoing as this multiphase theater renovation moves forward. They identified three major phases. Restoration of the north wall and the theater marquee are part of phase one.

“The primary project goal is to ensure that the Rogers Theater remains both functional and operational as a performing arts and cultural center for the community as well as a single-screen movie theater for the northeast region of the state,” stated Grant Writer/Project Director Anne Belanger. “This was a highly competitive grant opportunity that was only available to those communities residing along the shores of the Great Lakes. Upon completion of the marquee project, a key component of the grant is to hire a professional historic preservationist to prepare the documentation necessary to nominate and list the theater in the National Register of Historic Places.”

Theater marquees are often the first thing people see when they come downtown. For decades, the Rogers Theater marquee has been slowly deteriorating in functionality and operation along with minor damage to the metal framework.

“When bulbs burned out, it was difficult to find replacement bulbs. When the mechanism to operate the chase lights stopped functioning, it remained non-functioning,” said Presque Isle District Library Director Amber Alexander. “Now we are enabled to upgrade to energy-efficient LED lighting and have the marquee professionally restored to its authentic grandeur. This just adds to the efforts of not only maintaining a great library service, but maintaining our only downtown historic theater. While many of the historic buildings were razed during the urban development period, it’s our intent as the owner of the Rogers Theater, to restore and preserve this iconic historic building so that generations can enjoy it for decades to come.”

“This is a specialized skill set to restore theater marquees to their historic authenticity,” Belanger said. “Thankfully, it is not necessary to remove the marquee from the building’s facade to conduct restoration and repairs. All the work will be done on-site. The project will commence in late May/early June while completion of the theater’s north wall is planned for late spring.

We are very grateful to our funders for this opportunity to restore the theater’s marquee and to see it as it once was some 85 years ago when it lit up the downtown.”

Focused on the historic preservation of culturally or archaeologically significant sites throughout the state, Michigan’s State Historic Preservation Office’s main function is to provide technical assistance to local communities in their efforts to identify, evaluate, designate, interpret, and protect Michigan’s historic above-and below-ground resources. To learn more about the State Historic Preservation Office, visit miplace.org/historic-preservation/. Details and updates for all projects funded through the Lakeshore Heritage Grant Program will also be available on the website as projects progress.