A view from the second-floor balcony inside the Texan Theater in Kilgore is seen earlier this year. This area is closed to the public and does not have an ADA-compliant access and staircase leading to it.

KILGORE — Renovations and improvements have been underway at the Texan Theater in downtown Kilgore for several years, and plans are in the making that will transform the venue inside and out.

“We’ve got a sprinkler system now. We have the alarm system now. We have great electrical and we have a catering kitchen,” City Manager Josh Selleck told City Council members at a recent meeting.

Selleck said a missing piece of the puzzle to complete the renovations is the restoration of its second-floor balcony as well as ADA-compliant access to the balcony along with a legally-compliant staircase.

“We’ve actually made a good bit of progress over the last several months,” Selleck said.

“Going back in time, we have done all the big, heavy structural lifting inside the Texan Theater. Chip (Hale) is still operating the theater, and it’s doing well. It is necessary to build primary access to the balcony in order to make it usable. There’s a number of projects all wrapped up in that. The biggest one that we’ve been struggling to figure out is how do we legally make an appropriate access to the second floor?”

He noted plans are being drawn up to complete the second-floor work as well as extensive renovations outside the theater and in its adjoining yard.

A preliminary plan calls for the construction of a “bump” on the south side of the theater that will contain the ADA-compliant staircase to the second floor, a shrouded entryway, an elevator and two air-conditioned single-set ADA-compliant restrooms that would be accessible for public use during other downtown events such as Oktoberfest.

“We think we’re ready to go forward into a final design to get a bid package put together for this piece. (Hale) thinks he can find funding for at least the elevator portion of it,” Selleck said, adding the final cost of the staircase and elevator project would be about $350,000.

This would include some of the final work needed inside the theater, including carpeting, electrical work upstairs, interior and exterior painting and the repair of damage caused during asbestos abatement.

The second phase of the plan focuses on the Texan’s yard, an undeveloped lot on the south side of the building.

“In my time here, we’ve assembled all those lots and cleaned it up,” Selleck said. “Some of y’all can remember what the Texan yard was like eight years ago. It was a rubble pile of old oil derrick debris. Now you have a clean yard there that is usable.”

Hale told council members that plans for the Texan’s yard also call for the south-facing wall of the building to be used as a screen for projecting movies for outdoor audiences.

He said there are plans to convert the yard into a family-friendly, safe, greened-up space where people could sit on the grass. A play area for young children with life-size games is planned as well as an idea to use grants from East Texas Lumber to create and aesthetically pleasing fence around the lot for safety.

Hale said the preliminary sketch of the yard renovation plan also includes space for a bocce ball court and a plan to use the base of a nearby derrick as a bar called the “Texan Well” that could serve drinks to guests during events. Nearby electrical power hookups could also allow a food truck area at the far south side of the lot to feed attendees at outdoor screenings.

Hale said he is working with a grant writer on the theater board to find funding for the projects, including a possible $50,000 grant from T-Mobile. If awarded, that one grant could pay for about half of all the costs of the yard renovations.

Selleck said he and Hale would return soon at a future meeting with a formal plan and budget for council members to review and potentially approve.

If given the go-ahead, Selleck and Hale said the renovated theater and outdoor yard could be ready in time for the Reel East Texas Film Festival in November 2024.

Renovations at the historic theater, first built in 1931, have been ongoing since the structure was reopened for local use in 2017, though preservation and improvement projects have been carried out over the decades.

Along with HVAC improvements, the theater has undergone extensive repairs, including work on the façade and marquee, plumbing, ADA-compliance projects, a new projection screen, audio equipment and more.