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Industry Noize: UM Buys Missouri Theatre
The University of Missouri has purchased a downtown Columbia theatre for $3.7 million that the school says will replace a $58 million concert hall planned as part of a larger performing arts center.
in Missouri
The university leased the Missouri Theatre with a clause that it could then purchase the building from the Missouri Symphony Society.
The theater is on the national Register of Historic Places.
The purchase completes a 2011 agreement between Mizzou and the symphony that allowed MU to lease the theatre for $12,000 a month for three years, after which the school would have the option to purchase the space for the amount of unpaid debt, according to the Columbia Daily Tribune.
The symphony society will continue to use the theatre for its offices in exchange for MU having access to the group’s instruments and equipment, according to the paper.
The Missouri Symphony Society also gets 10 rent-free days annually for performances, with the option to rent more days.
The 86-year-old theatre was temporarily closed in 2010 as fundraising lagged and millions of dollars’ worth of planned renovations were scuttled.
The theatre will provide MU with needed performance space as Jesse Auditorium closes in the upcoming academic year for renovations to the main administration building.
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