Study to evaluate future of historic Terre Haute theater
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Officials in Terre Haute this week approved a feasibility study to help determine the next steps for the revitalization of the historic Indiana Theatre in the city’s downtown.
Our partners at WTWO-TV report the Vigo County Capital Improvement Board unanimously approved working with Indianapolis-based architecture, interior and urban design firm StudioAxis to conduct the study.
The study comes less than a year after the century-old theater was donated to the CIB by Terre Haute businessman Greg Gibson, who acquired the venue in 2021 with the goal of ensuring its operation remained within the local community.
The feasibility study will be led by StudioAxis Partner Kevin Cooper, a native of Terre Haute, who was present when Gibson’s donation was announced.
CIB Vice President and Vigo County Commissioner Chris Switzer told WTWO the study aims to identify the true purpose of the theater in order to help bring more people downtown.
He said the data collected from the study will help the CIB make competitive applications for grant funding.
“We need to identify an operator first,” Switzer said. “Second, we need to find out truly what’s wrong with the building, the roofing, the plumbing, mechanicals, plaster issues. There’s been some flooding in the basement…and we need to identify all those things and get that in writing to be able to provide whoever is going to be funding this.”
Cooper said the feasibility study will be conducted in three steps. The first is information gathering, during which the firm will dig into the history of the building.
“We’ll tour the building. We’re going to digitally scan the building, which will give us three-dimensional models which we’ll utilize to develop floor plans and renderings of the building,” Cooper said. “It’ll also give us a pretty accurate assessment of square footage and volume of the building.”
The second step will involve programming and a description of the project, which will include sitting down with residents and stakeholders to get their thoughts on what the venue should be used for.
The third step will be the release of the report. Cooper said he expects the entire process to take up to five months to complete.
You can view the full story, and get an update on the planned Larry Bird Museum at the Terre Haute Convention Center from WTWO by clicking here.