The Fountain Hills Theater, Inc. is now the proud owner of the theater building on Saguaro Boulevard at Rand Drive.

At its Jan. 19 regular session the Town Council approved an agreement to sell the building to the theater group.

Town Manager Grady Miller said in his staff report to the Council that since the buildings are aging and there has been ongoing maintenance costs to the town, staff recommended selling the property to avoid those costs going forward.

The local theater group was the only bidder on the property and that bid was $0. However, the town had allowed for “in-kind” improvements to the property to be calculated as part of the purchase price.

The theater was able to document more than $577,000 in improvements it has put into the building since leasing it.

Miller explained that that figure is substantially more than the appraised value of about $270,000, and the town is able to accept that.

When the town advertised for bidders on the property last year it stipulated that the building must be used for a theater operation for a period of time to be determined. The agreement calls for that stipulation to be in effect for 15 years.

Councilman Art Tolis noted that the theater group is a 501(c)3 non-profit and asked why the town could not find some advantage for both parties in just donating the building to the group.

Town Attorney Andrew McGuire explained that the town also has 501(c)3 non-profit status, and he noted that the town is also prohibited by law from “gifting” property.

The Fountain Hills Theater is paying the closing costs associated with the sale.

The theater building was one of the original structures in Fountain Hills, where it served initially as a new home sales center.

MCO Properties eventually deeded the building to the Fountain Hills Civic Association, which used it as the Community Center for a number of years.

The Civic Association deeded it to the town after incorporation and the town continued to use it as the Community Center until 2000 when the new center was opened.

The Theater has used the facility almost exclusively since that time.