OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — KSHB 41 reporter Isabella Ledonne reports on stories in Overland Park, Johnson County and topics about government accountability. Share your story idea with Isabella.
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The Rio Theatre in downtown Overland Park has been dark for more than six years, but new life could be on its way in. The downtown district is buzzing with what could be coming to the theater and the TV star who has ties to it.
What once was old is on its way to being made new again as an Overland Park City Council committee approved the first step of making 'The Dream Theater at the Rio' a reality.
"It's the one phone call I get nearly every week in regards to, 'Is it for sale?'" Angie Mutti, Downtown OP Partnership executive director, said. "People love the building. People want to see it brought back to life."
The theater was first opened in 1949 as the Overland Theater. It was then purchased, renovated and reopened in 2000. It closed in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"I was sad because I was really looking forward to going to the theater when I moved here," Michelle Penno, who lives across the street, said. "Just hearing about it on Instagram that they're going to open it up got me really excited."
Filings with the city of Overland Park state the project will operate as a public theater for at least 10 years with a film schedule for children and adults, concessions, a cocktail lounge and retail space. In return, The Dream Theater will receive up to a $425,000 grant from Overland Park.
"The taxes are going to go somewhere," Chad Denham, owner of Newtown James store across the street, said. "I'm all for it going to a local business owner and something that everyone can benefit from."
Denham hopes that reopening the theater will benefit his business in more ways than one.
“I would hope that they would open (their parking lot) up during their non-business hours for the public," Denham said. "I think it would be a massive boom to all of the businesses downtown.”
The real buzz around town has been who the new owners of the historic, Art Deco theater will be.
Internet sleuths will find that former SNL star and Kansas City native Heidi Gardner has been flooding her Instagram feed with The Dream Theater renovation plans.
"I think that's great," Denham said. "It's really cool that you have someone come back and pour into the community they grew up in. That's very cool."
But Overland Park officials can't say if Gardner is tied to the project.
"I think people will be really pleased with the plans for the future of this," Mutti said.
The Overland Park City Council still has to approve the funding plans, and the sale of the building still has to be finalized.
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