Triumvirate Theatre is seen on Monday, Feb. 22, 2021, in Nikiski, Alaska. The building burned in a fire on Feb. 20 of that year. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Triumvirate Theatre is seen on Monday, Feb. 22, 2021, in Nikiski, Alaska. The building burned in a fire on Feb. 20 of that year. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Kenai council gives Triumvirate more time to build theater

The Kenai City Council voted last summer to conditionally donate a 2-acre parcel of city land near Daubenspeck Park and the Kenai Walmart

The City of Kenai voted Wednesday to give Triumvirate Theatre more time to develop a new theater facility on land gifted last year to the group by the city. Fundraising efforts by the theater for the construction of a new playhouse have been underway since the group’s former space burned down in February 2021.

The Kenai City Council voted last summer to conditionally donate a 2-acre parcel of city land near Daubenspeck Park and the Kenai Walmart.

The terms of the agreement through which the land donated to Triumvirate Theatre previously required that a new facility be developed by July 2023. The council voted Wednesday to bump that deadline back to July 2025, which Triumvirate Theatre President Joe Rizzo said will give the organization more time to raise money for the facility.

Rizzo told council members Wednesday that Triumvirate has raised more than $700,000 in local donations and matching fund grants. That is in addition to a $1 million grant from the Rasmuson Foundation and two additional funding opportunities Rizzo said have not yet been finalized.

He said the group is asking for a $500,000 grant from the Murdoch Charitable Trust and that $1 million has been earmarked by U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

“We are at a point where the fundraising for this project has gone very, very well,” Rizzo said. “I’m very proud of our community.”

It is the unknowns surrounding those two larger funding opportunities, Rizzo said, that have stalled design work for a new theater.

“Before we can design this building, we have to know (whether we’re) designing a $2 million building or we’re designing a $3 million building, so that’s going to slow this process down a little bit,” Rizzo said.

The Kenai City Council’s full Wednesday meeting can be streamed on the city’s YouTube channel.

Reach reporter Ashlyn O’Hara at ashlyn.ohara@peninsulaclarion.com.

More in News

Rep. Justin Ruffridge, a Soldotna Republican who co-chairs the House Education Committee, speaks in favor overriding a veto of Senate Bill 140 during floor debate of a joint session of the Alaska State Legislature on Monday. (Mark Sabbatini/Juneau Empire)
By 1 vote, lawmakers sustain Dunleavy veto of education bill

The bipartisan bill included $680 increase to per-student funding

The Sterling Highway crosses the Kenai River near the Russian River Campground on March 15, 2020, near Cooper Landing, Alaska. (Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
Russian River Campground closed for construction

The campground is expected to reopen on June 2

A man fishes in the Kenai River on July 16, 2018, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Peninsula Clarion/file)
Fish and Game announces series of closures and restrictions for king salmon fisheries

Cook Inlet king salmon stocks are experiencing a prolonged period of poor productivity, the department said

Montessori materials sit on shelves in a classroom at Soldotna Montessori Charter School on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Education debate draws state attention to peninsula charter schools

Dunleavy would like to see a shift of authority over charter school approvals from local school districts to the state

The Nikiski Senior Center stands under sunlight in Nikiski, Alaska, on Thursday, March 14, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Support available for community caregivers

Nikiski Senior Center hosts relaunched Kenai Peninsula Family Caregiver Support Program

Flags flank the entrance to Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s office on Thursday, March 14, 2024, in Juneau, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Dunleavy vetoes bipartisan education bill

Senate Bill 140 passed the House by a vote of 38-2 and the Senate by a vote of 18-1 last month

The Alaska State Capitol on Friday, March 1, 2024, in Juneau, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
House passes bill altering wording of sex crimes against children

The bill is sponsored by Rep. Sarah Vance, R-Homer

Ben Meyer and Brandon Drzazgowski present to the Soldotna and Kenai Chambers of Commerce at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska, on Wednesday, March 13, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Kenai Watershed Forum gives update on streambank restoration

The watershed forum and other organizations are working to repair habitat and mitigate erosion

The entrance to the Kenai Police Department, as seen in Kenai, Alaska, on April 1, 2020. (Photo by Brian Mazurek/Peninsula Clarion)
Kenai resident arrested on charges of arson

Kenai Police and Kenai Fire Department responded to a structure fire near Mountain View Elementary

Most Read