Leaky roofs and broken-down HVAC systems are some of the occupational hazards of running a century-old movie theater. In recent weeks, both the Traverse City State Theatre and the Elk Rapids Cinema have closed to make way for unexpected maintenance. So what comes next for these community assets? 

Traverse City State Theatre

The situation: The State cancelled multiple screenings the first week of February, announcing on Facebook the theater’s roof had “sprung a leak” and that “water damage was sustained inside the building.” The theater has been closed ever since.

The damage: “We were reminded last week that the State Theatre is 110 years old,” remarked an email to Traverse City Film Festival (TCFF) subscribers. (The State was originally built in 1916, though its current structure mostly dates back to 1949.) The email went on to note that, while the roof had been patched, “there is extensive damage inside the theatre that still needs to be repaired before we can safely reopen.” Water from the roof “ran along the wall all the way down to the basement,” causing “significant cracks in the ceiling, holes in the concrete that protects the roof, visible water damage on the fabric on the walls, and plaster falling from the ceiling.”

The latest: The State’s last email, dated Tuesday, February 17, announced that all programming would be cancelled through at least the first week of March on the advice of contractors and engineers. “We’ve been so busy cleaning up the theatre, trying to assess the damage, and get the right people in to fix it,” the email noted.

State Theatre Executive Director Angie Forton told The Ticker in an email last week that the theater “is awaiting the engineering test results that will tell us what we need to do… We have no facts to report until then. When we have the facts, we will be sure to share them with you.” Those results were expected “before Wednesday” of this week, but Forton did not respond to multiple follow-ups.

Forton also did not directly address other questions posed via email regarding estimated repair costs and timelines, how TCFF plans to pay for the repairs, the current makeup of the theater’s staff and board of directors, and if the situation is dire enough that it could prompt the property to be put on the market.

This closure follows years of instability and unpredictability for the State and TCFF as a whole. In May 2023, the organization announced it was ending its annual summertime film festival. A year later, the Bijou by the Bay cancelled multiple showings citing technical difficulties with its projector – and then never reopened. The smaller theater sat dormant for months before TCFF co-founder Michael Moore finally announced in November it had “become cost-prohibitive” to operate and would be closing permanently. Along the way, State Theatre programming has struggled to get back to its pre-pandemic routine, with fewer showtimes per week and many new-release films only receiving one-weekend runs.

Traverse City Downtown Development Authority Executive Director Harry Burkholder admits that the inconsistent schedule has had adverse impacts on downtown as a whole.

“The State Theatre is one of downtown’s most important anchor institutions,” Burkholder says. “When it’s active and well-programmed, it brings consistent, year-round energy to downtown. We want to see the theater open and active as much as possible throughout the year. An active theater means active restaurants, busier sidewalks, and stronger small businesses. That layered activity is what sustains a healthy downtown Traverse City. Quite simply, when the marquee is lit on Front Street, it sends a message that downtown is alive.”

Elk Rapids Cinema

The situation: On February 17, the Elk Rapids Cinema announced a temporary closure to replace the building’s aging heating and cooling system. The decision followed three weeks of “operating the system at minimal capacity while waiting for replacement parts” – a stopgap option that proved untenable due recent chilly temperatures.

The damage: “There were a couple of days that we were trying to stay open, and people were wearing their outdoor clothes and bringing in blankets,” says Aaron Timlin, president of the Chalfonte Foundation, the nonprofit that owns the Elk Rapids Cinema. “Everyone was really understanding, but there were some refunds we had to give, and it ultimately just became too cold for our staff.”

Timlin originally estimated the theater would be closed at least through the first week of March, and that repairs would cost $25,000 to $35,000.

The latest: On Wednesday evening, the Elk Rapids Cinema sent another email announcing that heat had been restored sooner than expected, allowing the theater to reopen this weekend. The email credited Keen Technical Solutions in Traverse City, which “brought in a rebuilt and repaired engine and pump and worked late into the night [Tuesday] to ensure we had heat as quickly as possible.” The repair allowed the theater to go ahead with a Thursday concert by local band Jazz Cabbage and a continued run of the film Wuthering Heights.

The fix, the email warned, is a stopgap “to get us through the winter season,” and the Elk Rapids Cinema is “continuing to work with Keen to determine the best long-term HVAC solution — one that will be energy efficient, effective, and sustainable for decades to come.”

That project, Timlin says, will fit into a larger multi-year capital campaign that will also include repairs to the roof, a building-wide electrical modernization, and restoration of the theater’s marquee.

“We definitely have leaks coming in,” Timlin says of the roof, which he estimates is at least 50 years old. (The Elk Rapids Cinema building itself dates back to 1940.) “Just last week, when we had the higher temperatures, snow was melting on the roof and dripping into the projection booth. We made patches, but it’s just time to get a new roof put on this place.”

The multi-year campaign outlines seven phases of improvements. Timlin says “a few anonymous donors” have already pledged to cover the $35,000 HVAC replacement. Future phases and their fundraising estimates include the electrical modernization ($50,000), roof replacement ($150,000), and marquee and façade restoration ($27,000 left to raise, on top of nearly $28,000 in already-committed funds), as well as restroom, concessions, and accessibility improvements ($53,000), platform and broadcast media arts enhancements ($35,000), and restoration of the auditorium and its historic murals ($25,000).