In 1999, the city of Farmington, Michigan (10,423), decided to buy the historic Civic Theater to save its landmark status, and to preserve the traffic that the building brings to downtown merchants. The city purchased the theater for $300,000, and spent $700,000 to complete the renovations and make the building handicapped accessible. The theater now shows family-oriented movies at an affordable price of $2.50 for adults and $1.50 for children. The theater also has a stage and is often rented for performances, meetings, and other gatherings. The city may bring a youth or community theater group into the theater as well. Since the theater reopened, patronage has been dramatically restored, and the theater brings about 90,000 people into the downtown each year. The theater will soon be able to pay for itself, and the city is on track with its loan repayments. Bill Richards Jr. Assistant City Manager City of Farmington 23600 Liberty Street Farmington, MI 48335 248/474-5500 ext. 214 Fax: 248/473-7261 E-mail: brichards@ci.Farmington.mi.us Web site: www.ci.Farmington.mi.us