The Park Theater, originally opened in 1941, has been dark since 2005 – but that is all set to change beginning in 2026. 

    After the Park Theater Trust reached their goal of $12 million earlier this year, which includes the sale of the four-plex currently part of park property, it adjusted its goal to $15 million due to increased construction costs. On Dec. 3, the Trust announced a dollar-for-dollar match challenge after two families from the community offered to match $100,000 in donations from Dec. 4 through Dec. 31. The Trust hopes to use this match challenge to close the funding gap.

    As part of the reconstruction, Jim Rizzo from NeonWorks in Berkeley removed the original Novial glass neon tubing from the Art Deco Park Theater tower on Dec. 5 to keep it safe and restore it. Rizzo used a 60-foot box lift crane, removing each hand-tied section of tubing, and racked the tubes for future repair and refurbishment. According to the Park Theater Trust, the city of Lafayette has designated the much-loved tower as Public Art because of its commanding presence in the heart of Lafayette’s downtown and in recognition of the art form that neon represents.

    The project construction is expected to last at least 12 to 18 months. At the Nov. 24 City Council meeting, City Manager Niroop Srivatsa’s brought up the Park Theater renovations, and the request from the Park Theater Trust to use the front sidewalk and parking spaces in front of the theater for construction.

    “Our codes require that any private development pay for the cost of using those private facilities,” Srivatsa said at the meeting. “However, the codes also allow the City Council to provide an exception to the payment of those fees, as well as the encroachment permit issuance fee, and the Park Theater Trust has requested such relief from you. Staff has looked at the code, and we believe we can make the findings to grant this exception to the payment of fees.”

    The money saved would go directly toward reconstruction.
 
    The city made a $500,000 contribution to the Park Theater Trust several years ago. Given this previous investment, council ultimately approved the exception on the basis that the project functions as a city-sponsored activity and provides community benefit.

    “I want to be careful about this being deemed as establishing a precedent, whereby the city forgives these fees that are already in our statutes, if you will,” Council Member Jim Cervantes said before the unanimous approval to wave the fees. “I think in this case, we’re already as a city invested in this project, so for us to kick in $500,000 in one year and several years later take back $200,000 doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.”

    For more information on the Park Theater Trust renovations and the matching challenge, visit www.parktheatertrust
.org.