A Haines businessman this week added the former Coliseum Theater building to his growing list of local real estate purchases.

Chiropractor Chris Thorgesen confirmed this week that he bought the landmark Main Street structure, which has sat vacant since 2009 when Connie’s Cafe closed its doors.

Thorgesen also recently purchased the old Mountain View Motel, which he is turning into studio apartments. This spring, he bought the former Elks Lodge and converted it into an exercise center.

“My ultimate goal is to make Haines the town I want to live in,” Thorgesen said.

The building will likely be leased to a restaurant, but Thorgesen said he didn’t want to release details as the lease hasn’t yet been finalized and signed.

When asked why he decided to buy the building from Gross Alaska, Inc., Thorgesen replied, “Because someone needed to do it. It was rotting away.”

Real estate agent Karen Wright and her husband Jeff tacked bright red “SOLD” signs to the building Wednesday morning, only a month after Wright took over the property from another real estate firm.

Wright attributed the quick sale to marketing. “I’m about results, to be honest,” she said. “You can have the best party in the world, but unless you invite people to the party, no one will show up.”

It probably didn’t hurt that the price also decreased slightly, from $298,000 to $290,000, Wright said. The asking price was $290,000, but Wright couldn’t confirm if that is what the building sold for.

In the spring of 2014, the Gross family was asking $425,000 for the building.

Joanie Wagner, who owns a business across the street, said she is excited for the building to be occupied again. The recent sale paired with the nearby development of the Aspen Hotel and Haines Brewing Company buildings will bring more people downtown, she said.

“Downtown is a vital, living place again,” Wagner said.

Alaska Arts Confluence creative director Carol Tuynman, whose Main Street office is also across the street, said the vacant building has achieved symbolic status in the community, representing the struggle of downtown revitalization.

“It’s an interesting perception, that Main Street couldn’t be vibrant again until that building was back in business,” Tuynman said. “Everyone has been trying to make something like this happen, and it happened.”

The structure, built around 1918, was first owned by former Presbyterian minister A.F. McLean, who ran it as the “Rialto” theater.

In 1930, William D. Gross bought the building and eventually established the Alaska Film Exchange, to control and distribute films in the Southeast panhandle. It became “The Coliseum,” the same name attached to Gross’ theaters in Ketchikan, Sitka, Petersburg and Douglas.

In the 1980s, the business became Video 144 and switched from screening films to renting videos. After about 20 years, the family rented the building to Connie Ward, who ran the video rental shop and sold snacks as Connie’s Cafe until it was shuttered in 2009.

The two-story structure is about 2,800 square feet. It contains a large retail floor area, kitchen and apartment.