Haines Borough Mayor Stephanie Scott said last week that “a dialogue has been opened” concerning Main Street’s boarded-up Coliseum Building.
At the urging of the planning commission, Scott wrote owner Dorain Gross Aug. 26, asking if the borough could persuade her to remove plywood from windows “so that this key corner of our commercial district could present as ‘ready to do business.’”
“The more inviting our Main Street, the more attractive it becomes to consumers. The more consumers drawn, the greater the probability that the Coliseum will draw entrepreneurial or investor interest,” Scott wrote.
Scott reported last week that Gross wants to keep the plywood up for winter and had been awaiting a request from the borough to take it down for the summer.
“I encouraged them to think outside the box and to think of us as potential collaborators. We have to come up with some ideas. I think we can have a dialogue,” Scott said.
The building dates to 1918 and was the site of the town’s movie theater, which operated into the early 1980s. Until about three years ago, it housed a video rental store and cafe.
Gross has said she is interested in selling the building, but not in renting or leasing it.