The Mars Theatre District in LaFayette, Georgia, will soon see renovations and aesthetic improvements as new owner Robert Wardlaw hopes to make the old movie theater and surrounding row of storefronts a local and possibly regional destination.
“We see that entire district as a destination for entertainment, dining, arts and commerce,” said Wardlaw, who recently purchased the Chattanooga Street property with cousin Robert “Buzz” Law. “We’re confident that it can be that. It’s going to take some tender loving care and some commitment, and we have both of those things.”
The investors have family roots in the city, where the Wardlaw family owned and operated Coca-Cola Bottling Works of LaFayette for 80 years. Law’s mother, Louellen Wardlaw Law, is the sister of Wardlaw’s father.
According to an old photograph, the Mars Theatre opened in 1931, Wardlaw said, and he thinks it closed sometime in the late 1950s. The former movie theater was gutted by a fire in 2011, and businessman Mike Lovelady began to revitalize it and seven of the adjacent downtown storefronts – an area he dubbed the Mars Theatre District – the following year.
“I think it was time for the next phase in that development,” Wardlaw said of his and Law’s decision to purchase the property. “We’ve got a lot of confidence in the city of LaFayette and their commitment to growth, and we believe in the area.”