Pioneer Place Remodel on Track for September Opening

ST. CLOUD -- The Pioneer Place on Fifth has been undergoing a major remodel for several weeks now, and there's still a lot to do before their first scheduled show on September 25th.

Co-owner Ray Herrington says they've been focusing a lot on returning the 106-year-old building to its original glory.

We're trying to use up all of the flooring that we found upstairs, took all of the plaster off of the brick wherever we could, and reuse a lot of the old light fixtures.  We're trying to keep the aesthetic the way it was and try to get it back to the 1910s kind of look the way it was.

Herrington says the highlights of the new theater include balcony seating, a 12 seat skybox, and better acoustics.

They are adding an elevator to make the entire building handicap accessible. And, putting in a brand new bar and bathrooms on the second level.

Herrington says the plan is to make the upstairs bar available to the general public once it's done.

He says once The Pioneer Place is done, they'll start working on remodeling the Veranda Lounge on the first floor.

The physical bar itself expand that a little bit, move some walls around down here, trying to make sure we keep the aesthetics, the dark wood the nice warm colors in here and not modernize it too much, try to keep it looking like the bar that it is now and keep that feel, but expand it and make it more user friendly.

Herrington says, besides the expanded bar area in the Veranda Lounge, they'll also move the first floor bathrooms to a new area.

He says they were originally going to wait until next year to remodel the Veranda Lounge but decided to move it up to this fall. They are expecting that project to take a few weeks.

The basement area could be done next year, which Herrington envisions using for private events.