The Coliseum Theater building, a Main Street landmark since 1918, is for sale by Gross Alaska, Inc., the Juneau-based family business that has owned it since 1930.

Krishna Smith, a computer programmer who moved to Haines a year ago and is interested in re-opening the building as a theater, is investigating buying it.

“If we were breaking even, or just staying a little bit out of the red, we’d still be operating it. Our family has long-term ties to Haines. This is not something we take lightly,” said Kenny Gross, company general manager.

The decision to sell came at a December board meeting and signs went up on the building recently. “We’ve had that building forever. We pretty much considered all kinds of options,” Gross said.

He said the family had a few inquiries about leasing it, but “it hasn’t worked for anybody yet.” He wouldn’t divulge the asking price but said reopening the building to the public might take a considerable amount of money. “The whole building needs a complete going-through to make sure everything is working.”

Smith is traveling in the Lower 48 and said he intends to be back in early April to tour the building with an engineer. He said he knows it needs roof work, a new boiler and structural changes like a sloped floor if movies ever again will be shown there.

He’s been talking to owners of small movie houses in his travels, and what he’s heard isn’t encouraging. “They have low margins and they’re struggling.”

But that hasn’t made him lose interest. “It’s just what I want to do. The town needs it. I want to do it, and I can’t imagine anybody else doing it.” He said he may have financing to buy the building and he has “a big notebook of ideas” people have given him. “I’m interested in talking to anybody about it.”

The building operated as a theater until the early 1980s. A front portion was remodeled into a video store in 1985, then after a major renovation in 1993, reopened as a greatly expanded video store and café.

Competition from cheaper movie sources, including the Internet, led Gross Alaska to close its operation in December 2007. Resident Connie Ward, who managed the store for Gross, tried keeping the place open under a lease agreement. In October 2009, she closed, citing competition, heating oil and electric costs, plus declining food receipts.

Kenny Gross said there have been three recent inquiries about the building, two from parties who were interested in reviving a theater there, and a third from someone who was interested in using it at as a bakery.

The building sits at the center of Main Street, on the town’s busiest block.

The theater was a hub for generations of residents, including former schoolteacher and newspaper columnist Doris Ward, who rented an apartment across the street from the movie house when she arrived here in 1965.

“They had good movies in there. I’d go all the time. We didn’t have TV. No videos or Internet, nothing. So that was our big entertainment.”

Businesswoman Lenise Henderson Fontenot, who is leading a downtown revitalization effort, said the theater building’s location is prime. “It’s on Main Street with parking right beside it. It doesn’t get any better than that. It’s a great place for a person to start a business, if the price is right.”

The price, however, has to compare favorably with the time it would take to repay it, based on revenues it generated. “It seems like it should work, but how long will it take a buyer to get a return on that investment? When that date is too far out, the price is too high,” Henderson Fontenot said.

Gross said leasing the building isn’t inconceivable. “You can’t rule anything out, ever, but it would have to be a long-term lease approved by our directors. We’ll entertain any kind of proposal anybody has.”

The building once boasted a star-shaped chandelier, a balcony and red velvet curtains. Its original façade included a fan-shaped, stained-glass window, offset porthole windows, ornate trim and white columns.

Gross’ great-grandfather, William David Gross, brought a film and projector to Haines in 1910. The Gross family eventually operated theaters in Haines, Juneau, Douglas, Sitka, Petersburg and Ketchikan.

The Haines Borough received permission to remove plywood from building windows and post historic photos there last summer. Gross said the company would be open to such an arrangement again this summer, if the building still is for sale.