Wayne Theatre fundraising effort still $257K short

The Wayne Theatre Alliance is still working at closing another funding gap that has stalled work on the renovation of the Downtown Waynesboro landmark.

Facing a $600,000-plus funding gap after a change in the rules governing the use of tax credits that are key to the project financing, the nonprofit has been able to account for about two-thirds of that gap through pledges, cash donations and forgiven costs from the project’s construction manager, Mathers Construction, according to Clair Myers, the executive director of the WTA.

An email to members of the board of directors and donors that went out Wednesday indicated that the Alliance still needs to raise an additional $257,395 to fully fund the project.

The effort to renovate the Wayne, which closed as a first-run movie theater in 1999, has been close several times to getting full-fledged under way, most recently earlier this year, when crews from mathers construction were active on-site on the $6.5 million project.

Myers had expected work to get going again this month, but there is no new timetable in place. It is projected that completion will come an estimated nine months after the work gets going again.