For two years, the Tivoli Theatre has sat empty, awaiting the start of construction that would restore and update the historic theater on Broad Street. Now, with full funding achieved, construction efforts are set to begin in January.
Originally slated for a 2024 reopening when the Tivoli closed in 2022, construction was delayed in part due to rising costs in the wake of the pandemic, according to Nick Wilkinson, CEO of the Tivoli Theatre Foundation, which owns and operates the Tivoli, Memorial Auditorium and the Walker Theatre. Thankfully, Wilkinson said in an interview at the theater, costs have improved as the construction project reaches its start. The project is aiming for completion in mid-2026, Wilkinson said.
At a price tag of $72.8 million, the construction project is 90% privately funded, Wilkinson said. In September, the foundation closed on a $9 million new markets tax credit transaction with U.S. Bancorp, facilitated by the National Trust Community Investment Corporation, according to a news release from the foundation. In April, the foundation received a historic renovation grant of $400,000 from the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development.
The construction will not just restore and update the Tivoli. It will also establish the Tivoli Performing Arts Center in the adjacent Fowler Brothers building. Wilkinson said he wants the Tivoli to be the “cultural anchor” for the city center district just as the Tennessee Aquarium and Chattanooga Choo Choo have been for the riverfront and Southside districts, respectively, to “breathe life back into this community” and “tie all of downtown Chattanooga together.”