The city of Seymour is making an offer to buy the Community Agency Building in the downtown in order to renovate the first floor and create space for live theater, meetings and other events.

Courtesy of RQAW Corp.

The Seymour Redevelopment Commission recently sought approval from the Seymour Plan Commission to purchase the Community Agency Building in the downtown.

The request was to amend the city’s economic development plan to add the parcel at 113 N. Chestnut St. to the city’s plan and acquisition list.

When the vote was taken at the end of the Dec. 14 plan commission meeting, however, it was given an unfavorable recommendation by a vote of five for, three against and three absent. Six votes in favor of the request were needed to make it favorable.

Bret Cunningham, Dan Robison and Rick Schleibaum cast the nay votes. Gary Colglazier, Darren Richey and Susie Bowman were absent.

Now, Seymour Mayor Matt Nicholson said the proposal will be presented to the commission again during its next meeting at 5 p.m. Jan. 11 in the hopes that the full commission is present to vote. That meeting, open to the public and press, will be in the council chambers at city hall, 301-309 N. Chestnut St., Seymour.

In October, Nicholson presented his idea for the building to the redevelopment commission.

His vision is a live theater with the ability to lower a screen to show movies. Actors Community Theater of Seymour has been renting space at Shops at Seymour for several years, and Nicholson said the first floor of the Community Agency Building could provide them a permanent home to lease and share the space. The plan is to have 80 to 100 seats in the theater.

Other possibilities for the theater would be small music performances, house concerts, a listening room for Crossroads Acoustic Fest, live comedy and learning series.

The building has been searching for a first-floor tenant after Indiana Health Center moved two years ago. The second and third floors mainly house offices for nonprofit organizations, which was the original intent of the building when it opened 15 years ago.

Nicholson told the redevelopment commission that he thought a theater would help bring nightlife to the downtown. A post was made on the city’s Facebook page seeking letters of support for a downtown theater project, and letters were submitted from teenagers to those in their 70s.

When Nicholson met with the Community Agency Building board, he was asked if the city could get the building purchased by the end of the year.

He knew he needed a proof of concept before presenting the idea to the redevelopment commission, so he reached out to an engineering firm the city has worked with on other projects to develop that and tell him if this would be feasible.

The firm determined there’s room — about 6,600 square feet on the first floor — to make it happen and provided a rough design to prove it could work.

At the end of the Oct. 23 meeting, the redevelopment commission approved providing up to $250,000 to cover the costs of buying the Community Agency Building, including appraisals and fees, if the CAB board accepts the purchase agreement.

If the agreement is approved, Nicholson said the next step would be to pursue funding for renovation, which is estimated to cost between $1 million and $3.3 million.

The city plans to include the project in the READI 2.0 application that’s due in the spring and work with Seymour Main Street to apply for Office of Community and Rural Affairs funding. That way, the ask from the redevelopment commission would be a lower amount.

If all goes as planned, Nicholson said remodeling would take place in 2024 and the first floor would open in 2025.