The University of Missouri has agreed to lease a historic Columbia theater that some local preservationists feared would close its doors.
The university announced a three-year deal Thursday with the nonprofit Missouri Symphony Society, the group that manages the 83-year-old Missouri Theatre on Ninth Street in downtown Columbia.
The university will pay $12,000 a month and have an option to buy the theatre for $3.7 million once its lease expires.
The former vaudeville house reopened in 2008 amid a $10 million renovation but was soon unable to pay its bills. The theater temporarily closed in 2010, only to open again on a limited basis while relying on symphony society volunteers rather than paid employees.
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