As Las Vegans await the restoration of the Huntridge Theater in downtown Las Vegas, another historic Nevada building has an even more uncertain future.
The Lear — also called the Lear Theater, though it only served as a theatrical venue sporadically in the late 1990s and early 2000s — has been closed for years. But from its inception in 1939 as the First Church of Christ, Scientist — designed by pioneering southwest architect Paul Revere Williams — and through its various owners, it has stood as a Reno cultural icon.
The City of Reno now owns the building, but it has yet to determine how it will save it — or even if it will keep the building before it can stabilize it. The City must determine whether to allot funds for the Lear before its June 1 budget deadline.
Reno historian and writer Alicia Barber has witnessed the enthusiasm locals have for the building. "I think they just are enamored of it because it has been such a central position in the city for so long, and it's beautiful," Barber said "They know about the reputation of [Paul Revere Williams]. I helped the City [of Reno] plan and host a community meeting in January about the building that had a tremendous turnout — I mean, more than 100 people participating, coming from all sides of the community and even outside of the community, wanting to do what they can to help save it, raise money for it. So it strikes a real chord."
That January meeting saw community members favor the Lear being transformed into a cultural center over being restored as a theater. But regardless of its possible future purpose, the amount of work needed to plan, stabilize, upgrade and renovate the building is estimated to cost between $15 million and $21 million — money that could come in part from the city, but will mostly need to come from donations, grants and foundations.
"Well, I think we all know that we can't rely on government funding to really put this building back into use," Barber said. "It's got some serious issues. It needs some roofing, some ceiling fixing, doors and windows. It needs to be protected from the elements. So we're hoping that the city can get the ball rolling, maybe with a little bit of redevelopment funds, which is a pocket of money that they do have, even though there's a bigger budget deficit for the general fund. But we know that the money is going to have to come from the community."
"We're really going to need everyone to step up and help us make it happen," Barber added.
Meanwhile, the only thing stopping owner/developer Dapper Companies from starting work on the long-moribund Huntridge Theater in downtown Las Vegas is an on-site cell phone tower preventing expansion of the facility. J Dapper of Dapper Companies, which bought the property in 2021 for $4 million, couldn’t join State of Nevada or comment. But according to KTNV in a report last December, he told the Historic Preservation Commission that the legal issue over the tower isn't completely settled. There's no pending litigation, he added. Once it is settled — and the tower is essentially relocated — and the City of Las Vegas has approved amendments and renovation plans, Dapper can finally break ground on the project. That could happen this year, after which he estimates construction taking 14-16 months.
One person who has been waiting — and passionately advocating — for the building's comeback is Melissa Clary, who co-founded the Huntridge Foundation shortly after moving to Las Vegas in the mid-2000s. She is passionate about preserving older and historic facilities — even buying the Gem Theater in Pioche in 2020 — and, upon moving into the Huntridge neighborhood, she appreciated that the theater once had, and once again could have, a usable theater.
"Most of my interaction with [the Huntridge] has been as a resident of the neighborhood, urging its restoration, simply for the cultural significance it did have [and] recognition of the economic impact it would have to bring that corner back and boost the local economy and the areas surrounding it," Clary said.
If the last 30 years are any indication, the effort to preserve and renovate the Huntridge has been one of fits and starts. Some locals think that the theater's reopening won’t ever happen, or that they’ll believe it only when they see it. Clary is more optimistic, though she hopes Dapper Companies and the City of Las Vegas involve the community in their future plans, given the theater's proximity to residences.
"I remain hopeful," Clary said. "I think [Dapper] has proven himself on other challenging properties in downtown [Las Vegas]. There's not a lot of developers who would take the risk and the chance on some of these older structures. So, I do applaud developers who see the vision and the community revitalization that can happen when you restore a historic structure like the Huntridge."
