Rose Theater receives award for assessment

The Old Rose Theater could be back in operation soon. The Colfax Downtown Association was awarded a grant to assess work needed to restore the building.

The restoration of the Old Rose Theater on Colfax’s Main Street may have just become a step closer. Colfax Downtown Association last week received a Valerie Sivinski Washington Preserves Fund grant for a building assessment.

Washington Trust for Historic Preservation issues grant awards each year through the Sivinski Fund, and the organization has only recently started issuing grants for building assessments.

“This is the second year running where we’ve partnered with a historical preservance consulting firm to do initial building assessments,” said Chris Moore, executive director with the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation.

The building assessment will be conducted and completed by Artifacts Consulting. Moore said he is not sure of the exact value of the assessment, but he does know the “cash value is more than we’re able to give as grant awards.” The maximum grant award the Washington Trust can reward is $2,000.

“We’re excited because of the important role the theater has had for downtown Colfax,” he said. “It’s a local, Main Street-style theater.”

Moore also called the Downtown Association’s application “compelling.”

“The concept of the downtown movie theater or community engagement space is certainly compelling,” he added.

The Washington Trust also oversees the state’s Main Street program. Colfax is among 33 cities and towns in the state which participate in the program.

Moore said it is great to see Main Street communities involved with historic preservation.

“It was good and important to see the Downtown Association involved at that level,” he said. “It’s great to see Colfax now involved in the state’s Main Street program.”

The Downtown Association’s application for the assessment grant included the visions the city and building owner Kim Nguyen of Rockport, Texas, have for the space.

“They included the hope for what could be brought back,” said Moore. “The opportunity is still there.”

Nguyen and her husband, Phong Nguyen, purchased the Old Rose Theater building in February when it was still the site of Peak Fitness. Peak Fitness subsequently closed, and the Nguyen’s – who had purchased the building site unseen – traveled to Colfax for the first time about two weeks later.

The Nguyens have since purchased six other downtown buildings and a house in Colfax.

They also own the buildings which house the Hen House Chicks, Colfax Security, the Washington State Grain Inspection Office, Main Street Books, Colfax Computer Services, Edward Jones and the Whitman County Gazette.

The Nguyens previously owned a historic building in the Columbia City neighborhood of Seattle. They sold that building and rolled the money over into purchasing the buildings here.

Kim Nguyen has said she plans to restore some of her buildings and wants to bring the theater back. She has also talked of restoring the Masonic Lodge as a community space.

Moore said he hopes the assessment helps to push forward restorations at the theater as well as Nguyen’s other buildings.

“It could be a good blueprint for the owner to take a look at her other spaces,” he said. “We’re hoping for it to be a catalytic affect for the way the owner approaches rehabilitation opportunities.”

He added that he sees a lot of potential in the theater space.

“There’s a lot of promise; there’s some real opportunity there,” he said.

The assessment, Moore said, will involve the consultants being at the building for about a day to do a walk through. The consultants will make priority recommendations and list issues to address, and they will issue a report to Nguyen and the Downtown Association.

“They really get everything in place for her to run with it,” said Valoree Gregory, Colfax unified executive director.

Gregory said the assessment will be a huge tool for Nguyen to get plans underway.

“If we get that Rose Theater up for Colfax, it’s going to be a novelty,” she said. “It’s going to be one more thing that brings people to downtown Colfax.”

Kimberly DeHart, president of the Downtown Association, said the association helps businesses and individuals to be aware of grant opportunities, and they helped Nguyen to apply for this one, the first to be assisted by the association.

Moore said there is also potential for an application to be submitted next year for a grant award to be received for the building.

“That’s one of our goals in doing this,” he said.

Last year, the first year in which the assessment grant was available, an assessment was awarded to the Masonic Temple Association in Ellensburg for its 1890 Masonic Temple. This year, that association received a $2,000 grant based off of the assessment.

“The Ellensburg Masonic Temple Association was the first recipient in 2016,” said Moore. “It worked out exactly as we had hoped. They addressed the first priorities from the assessment.”

That association will now use the $2,000 grant to replace the deteriorated exterior trusses on the roof of the Ellensburg temple.

Last year, LaCrosse Community Pride received a $750 Valerie Sivinski Washington Preserves Fund Grant to be used to stabilize rock houses the group acquired in town there.