CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The Historic Atlas Theatre has received a grant to remove windows that “no longer serve a purpose.”
On Thursday, the Cheyenne Downtown Development Authority approved a Capital Improvement Grant for the Friends of the Atlas Board at its regular monthly meeting. The theater board requested a 50% match from the DDA for masonry work on the Atlas Theatre’s south side, according to a DDA staff report. The total cost of repairs is $8,800. The development authority awarded the Atlas board $4,400.
Those eligible to receive funds from the CIG program are Cheyenne property owners whose buildings are situated in the right-of-way. These owners can receive up to a 50% match from the DDA for any building renovation or improvement project, according to the DDA’s guidelines.
The building, located at 211 W. Lincolnway, will use the grant to remove plywood and fill in six windows on its south side with brick. The staff report further adds that the windows are effectively arbitrary.
“The windows in the south wall are original to the theater part of the building,” the report states. “There is no clear reason why the windows were added, other than for ventilation, because the south wall is the back wall of the theater, and the windows no longer serve a purpose. They are currently covered with plywood to protect the interior.”
Work to infill the windows will commence after Cheyenne Frontier Days to avoid causing hazardous conditions for pedestrians.
The Historic Atlas Theatre received a separate CIG grant in May to replace deteriorated brick and replace mortar joints. The DDA grant was for $6,460 to cover half of the total repair costs.