Rebuilding the only movie theater in northern Dauphin County has been progressing at a strong clip since this spring, and owners expect the facility to open before the end of the year.
The Colonnade Theater on Center Street in Millersburg closed more than a decade ago.
Afterward, Marvin and Doris Troutman donated the building to the community theater group Twin Valley Players, said Nathan Troutman, a board member of the organization.
Amid a wider economic development vision in the borough, the plan to reopen the site as a movie theater emerged, Troutman said.
The project was awarded a state Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program grant and money from Dauphin County, but that wasn’t enough to cover the cost to turn the property into a combination movie theater and performance venue, Troutman said.
The first low bid results came back at roughly $2 million, or about $500,000 over the funding level, he said.
A subsequent effort pared down the project to about $1.7 million.
The Twin Valley Players decided to take out a line of credit with Integrity Bank along with its bridge loan instead of waiting on the results of fundraising, Troutman said.
So for all the planning up to that point, the work has seemed to go at high speed recently, he said.
Construction has hit no major hurdles, and the weather has cooperated. In the meantime, the group has gone out and raised additional funding.
“It’s certainly been a rapid project,” Troutman said.
