Riverbank Theatre To Launch Construction on A New Venue

Riverbank Theatre to add a new venue and expand into the City of St. Clair. On Tuesday, July 20, the board of Riverside Plaza in downtown St. Clair voted unanimously to sell a parcel of land at the southwest corner of their parking lot to Riverbank Theatre, who will erect a new 12,000 sq. ft., 350-seat performing arts venue.

Riverbank Theatre, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, has successfully operated two venues in downtown Marine City for 8 years and annually produces a season of plays and musical theater offerings, operates a performing arts academy, and offers other various live entertainment. In 2019, the theater hosted 20,000 guests throughout the year, which translates into economic impact for retail, restaurants, and overnight accommodations. The Economic Development Alliance of St. Clair County, with support from the Community Foundation of St. Clair County, commissioned an independent economic impact study by Anderson Economic Group to determine the impact of expanding performing arts to include a third performance venue and operate simultaneously across two towns. The result indicated that this effort would generate up $2.4M in net new economic impact in the first year and up to $11.5 M once fully established (after 5 years)

Riverbank has raised nearly two-third of the funding for this new addition to its venue offering and hopes to break ground yet this year. Late last year a $1 Million challenge grant was awarded by the Franklin H. and Nancy S. Moore Donor Advised Fund to facilitate this new venue upriver; Riverbank then secured a $500,000 match from the "St. Clair Endowments" of the Community Foundation of St. Clair County and roughly $300,000 from private donors. The new venue is expected to cost $3M to finalize and Riverbank will host a series of fundraising activities to close the gap.

Anyone interested in donating to this initiative should contact Riverbank at 810-278-1749 or visit our website, www.riverbanktheatre.com, and click on the NEW VENUE FUND link.