COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — It's been just over a year since Kimball's Peak Three Theater in Downtown Colorado Springs closed.
It shut down after owner Kimball Bayles passed away at the age of 70 in January of 2023. The theater was a place for champions of independent films, a social gathering, and a return to the classic cinema days of old.
Now there are at least eight parties that want to bring new business to the space, some as early as this summer.
Some of the proposals want to maintain the theater aesthetic but revive it as a possible concert venue and event space. Others want a restaurant.
The property manager says they are reviewing all proposals but hope to keep it theater-oriented.
"If we can have it something related to cinema moving forward, that would be great. But any kind of entertainment that helps with solidifying the downtown corridor would be fantastic and so we're open to lots of ideas," says Ryan Murphy, Property Manager.
Murphy says the interior of the space will require updates to the electricity, heating, and furnishings before it can be reopened.
According to our news partners at The Gazette, Bayles opened the theater known as Kimball's Twin Peak Theaters in 1994 after spending $1.5 million to renovate the space, around 2009 the theater's name was changed to Peak Three Theater after Bayles put another screen in the theater.
Bayles was a champion of the theater experience even at a time when movie theaters were facing a level of extinction brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite COVID restrictions, Bayles held strong onto the idea of theaters uniting people even in the hardest times.
WATCH: KIMBALL'S PEAK THEATER OFFERING VIRTUAL SCREENINGS
During the height of the pandemic as people were forced to stay home Bayles began holding virtual screenings for the community, in an attempt to survive where other theaters could not.
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