Schine’s Theatre construction nears expected completion in March

ASHLAND — A years-long renovation of an iconic Ashland location is nearing its end. 

Construction crews plan to finish renovations on the Ashland Schine’s Theatre, which hasn’t shown a movie since 2010, in late March.

“I think everyone is gonna be very impressed with how the theatre turns out,” Mayor Matt Miller said.

“Many of us who’ve grown up in the area, the last time we saw the inside of the theater, it was this old dilapidated movie theater with sticky floors and funky smells in the air.”

The Ashland Schine’s Theatre Organization, the group that runs the theatre, originally purchased it in 2015 in order to restore it. Since then, they’ve raised over $4.5 million for its renovations, according to the organization’s website.

The theatre was originally set to re-open in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic set the project back “one or two years.” After the pandemic, crews were concerned that supply chain issues would hold up the project further, but most items arrived on time, Miller said.

The theatre’s exterior was completed in December 2020, and crews from Simonson have been focusing on the interior since then. 

Now, crews are working on the stage, hanging up light fixtures, painting the walls, and installing the theatre’s chairs, which have not arrived yet.

Miller and The Schine’s Theatre Association recently shared updates on the project to their Facebook pages, showing off the theatre’s red, yellow, and black walls and construction crews at work. 

The final piece of the new theatre is the parking lot on the other side of Center Street that the city recently agreed to lease for a grand total of $5 over five years. After five years, the city will have the option to purchase the lot for $1. 

Now that the city has access to the lot, crews will get to work repairing a sagging retaining wall on the edge of the lot and installing a new sewer line for the theatre, Miller said.