These days, the Lakewood Theatre – once the hub of the city’s entertainment and fine-dining scene – is a forgotten relic of local history.

Efforts to buy the 1937 building have come and gone. Its owner, Seattle-based Gramor Development Washington, wants to sell the building to someone who will restore it.

But Gramor doesn’t know exactly what it will take to make it suitable for the public, or how much the job will cost.

Enter the City of Lakewood, stage left.

Included in the city’s 2010 proposed budget is $20,000 for a feasibility study of Lakewood Theatre, which has sat empty for almost two decades. Lakewood proposes using lodging tax revenue, which it can spend only on tourism-related projects.

For the building’s owner and local historians, the study would remove the biggest obstacle to restoring and preserving one of the city’s prominent historical venues. It’s local lore for residents of a city that officially incorporated in 1996.

Gramor has talked to four or five viable buyers since buying the theater and surrounding property in 1999, said Bob Jones, property manager for the theater. But the owner was unable to give a price tag on the building’s restoration.

That’s been a deal-killer.

“We’ve sort of thrown up our hands each time there has been someone who’s been interested,” he said, adding Gramor appreciates the feasibility study money. “Over the past decade, we didn’t know what to tell a perspective tenant.”

Becky Huber, president of the Lakewood Historical Society, says a lack of an in-depth examination of the building’s needs was a stumbling block.

“Probably, this is one of the best bits of news we’ve heard,” she said of the feasibility study. “It’s something many of our long-timers have asked on a regular basis.”

Some of those long-timers can remember a different Lakewood Theatre than what sits there today. Located in the Colonial Center shopping center, which is historic in itself, developer Norton Clapp opened the 500-seat theater in 1937. According to the 2005 book, “Images of America: Lakewood,” co-authored by Lakewood City Councilman Walter Neary, it was a central hangout for locals.

Huber said the next-door restaurant, Lakewood Terrace, was one of the city’s premier spots to eat. It also provided a way for residents to eat dinner, and then catch a movie or play.

But as Lakewood developed with other dining and entertainment options, including a new mall a few streets away, the theater’s patrons steadily dwindled. By the time Gramor bought the building in 1999, it was being used sparingly, if at all.

A 2006 News Tribune editorial referred to the theater as an entertainment beacon for residents in its heyday.

“Today, the lovely old theater sits empty,” the editorial noted. “No tickets have been sold or movies screened in the 1937-vintage, Colonial-style theater for at least two decades. Rodents have eaten away at many of the approximately 500 plush seats.”

Aside from repairing much of the building, the new owner also would have to meet requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act for public use, according to the city.

Still, City Council members last month said they don’t want the building to become the Luzon of Lakewood, referring to the Tacoma landmark that was recently demolished.

Some residents have pointed to the 1924 Liberty Theater in Puyallup, which was renovated as a banquet and performing arts facility, as a model of how the Lakewood Theatre could be used.

Councilwoman Claudia Thomas said the community is “very much in love” with the theater and doesn’t want to see it torn down for development.

The City Council is discussing its proposed 2010 budget this month, and a public hearing is scheduled for Nov. 2. The City Council is to adopt a budget Nov. 16.

Brent Champaco: 253-597-8653

brent.champaco@thenewstribune.com