LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — This month marks the 80th anniversary of the Huntridge Theater.
The historic property opened near Charleston Boulevard and Maryland Parkway in 1944. It was operated by the Commonwealth Theater Company of Las Vegas. It was then taken over by the Huntridge Theater Company of Las Vegas in 1951, which was partially owned by actresses Loretta Young and Irene Dunne. The theater also was the first desegregated theater in Las Vegas.
The venue was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993 and closed its doors on July 31, 2004.
In 2021, Dapper Companies, which is owned by J Dapper, bought the property for $4 million with plans to bring the Huntridge Theater back to life.
While overall planning is moving forward on the project, a final budget and construction timeline can't be put together until a lawsuit is resolved between Dapper Companies, AT&T, and Crown Castle.
The lawsuit is based on where a cell tower should be located on the property.
While addressing commissioners during the Historic Preservation Commission meeting, Dapper said an architectural firm has completed about 90% to 95% of the plans for the Huntridge. However, the cell tower issue is causing delays.
"That set of plans has us building a new lobby in the area where there is a cell tower currently," Dapper explained. "When we first purchased the property, we went to [AT&T and Crown Castle] and talked to them about relocation of the cell tower and we said that we would even be willing to grant them a new 10, 15, 20-year lease if they relocated. Initially, they said yes. They would. Over the period of the last couple of years, they've kind of stopped communicating with us. Finally, when they came back around and started talking to us about relocation, they demanded a tremendous amount of money."
AT&T and Crown Castle are currently paying Dapper about $1,000 a month in rent to have their cell tower on the Huntridge property. Their lease is expected to expire within the next two years.
"It's a small amount of money," Dapper said. "I've already said to them if they just want to leave, they can do that. We also offered to buy out their lease or give them the remainder value of their lease. They weren't interested in doing that. They seem like they want to stay. They just don't want to move [the tower]."
According to Dapper, he also thinks AT&T and Crown Castle could have violated their lease agreement.
"There is a requirement that exists through the law that says if a property is on the National Historic Register, they have to have an Environmental Impact Report when they installed the cell tower," Dapper said. "We've asked them to provide that to us and we don't believe it was ever obtained. Because it was never obtained, they're in breach of the lease because their lease requires them to have all necessary permits."
There are plans in place, if the cell tower was to be relocated.
"We've worked with the city on the relocation, trying to figure out a way for them to go onto something [that's] basically like a temporary cell tower that's on wheels and then, also, permanently relocate it to the back corner of the property."
Dapper said resolving the issue has been frustrating.
"AT&T is a big company and unfortunately, they don't seem to care a lot about the Huntridge," Dapper said. "I don't think they understand what it is or why it's important. We're dealing with people in another state that are big corporate people that don't seem to care."
As for what they've been doing in the meantime, Dapper said his team has been busy so they can start construction as soon as possible.
"We have been working diligently on entitlements, plans, approvals at the HPC, grants through the National Park Service that we received approvals on in June," Dapper said. "There's nothing else for us to do other than get our permits and our construction costs. Part of the historic tax credits requires a budget that gets approved. Right now, we don't have a set of approved permits so we can't send that out to price the job, which would be the next step."
According to Dapper, SoHo Playhouse, a nonprofit group based out of New York City, has signed a lease to occupy the Huntridge Theater and two new theaters, which would be built in the back of the property. One would be a black box theater and the other would be a cabaret theater.
They've also signed a lease with a group called Bar Centrál, which would operate a cocktail bar, boutique deli, and bottle shop.
However, they're still looking for the last tenant for the project.
"The last space to be leased, which is the front space, we are in talks with several different tenants for that space but don't currently have a lease signed."
Dapper estimates the total cost of the project will be between $20 million to $25 million and based on the current timeline, he anticipates construction wrapping up in the second quarter of 2026.
