QC leaders celebrate a Capitol reopening
Fourteen years after one of the most important moments in the life of Kyle Carter and his wife Mo, at the Capitol Theatre, the Downtown Davenport Partnership executive director was ecstatic to be back on that same stage Wednesday.
Carter had his engagement photos taken on the Capitol stage in 2009. He was one of several speakers at a Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce ribbon-cutting, to celebrate the long-awaited restoration and reopening of the 1920 historic landmark at 330 W. 3rd St., closed since 2010.
“I will always believe this is the most preeminent, beautiful piece of architecture in the Quad Cities,” Carter (whose office with the Chamber is across the street) said Wednesday. “I don’t even think it’s that close.”
“We’re fortunate to have something you can consider a trophy in downtown Davenport – to reflect both the cultural significance and just a monument to what we can do when we think big and when we believe in what we’re truly capable of in this community,” he said.
“This has been a brutal year for the city of Davenport, for downtown Davenport specifically, but there have been many years over the course of this city’s history that we have taken a good punch and come back better than we were before,” Carter said.
The city is still reeling from the May 28, 2023 partial collapse of the nearby six-story Hotel Davenport apartment building, which was later demolished. Three men lost their lives in the collapse, dozens lost their home and belongings, and the event prompted several lawsuits.
The Capitol opening is “a testament to the resilience of this community,” Carter said. “This is a breath of fresh air – one that is truly needed and I am deeply proud of personally, to be standing here today.”
People don’t realize projects like this take years, Carter said, thanking the investors for their faith in the community and the booking staff for bringing entertainment here in this palace.
“I am so thrilled to be standing here in front of you,” he said. “These are the things that create a sense of place. These are the stories that are unique to Davenport and the Quad Cities. Everybody’s got a Walmart; everybody’s got a 53rd Street, but not everyone has one of these. Never forget it, and never take it for granted.”
Carter said he wants the first Capitol concert audience in September to be “so full that it’s uncomfortable.”
The first concert in the grand reopened theater is scheduled Sept. 13, 2023 with Dayseeker, an American post-hardcore band from Orange County, Calif. A TEDxDavenport event is scheduled for Oct. 12, 2023.
Famous architect designed Capitol
The Capitol is on the first two floors of the 10-story Kahl Building at the corner of 3rd and Ripley streets. The original builder, Henry Kahl, wanted it to rival any theater in Chicago or New York.
The Capitol opened with 2,500 seats, later scaled down to 1,500. It was originally designed by the Chicago-based architectural firm Rapp & Rapp, which designed 400 theaters nationwide, including the 1906 former Majestic Theatre in downtown Chicago (today’s CIBC Theatre), the 1921 Chicago Theatre and the 1916 Orpheum Theatre in Galesburg.
The Capitol opened Christmas Day in 1920 with William Faversham in “The Man Who Lost Himself.” Operating as a mixed-use vaudeville and movies theatre, it later began showing movies only.
On each side of the main floor auditorium, it featured alcoves containing a grand piano on one side and a harp on the other. It also had a working Wicks pipe organ, which was maintained by the Theatre Organ Society. By 1941 the Capitol Theatre was operated by Paramount Pictures Inc. through their subsidiary A.H. Blank.
The Capitol famously hosted Buddy Holly’s last tour, the Winter Dance Party on Jan. 29, 1959 that included Holly, the Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens before their deaths five days later in an airplane crash outside of Clear Lake, Iowa.
In the early-1970s, the Capitol switched to Spanish language films. In 1978, it began screening X-rated adult movies. During the 1980s, it was also used as a Christian Center. The Capitol hosted the Marycrest College Performing Arts Series from 1981 to 1986. From 1990 to 1994, it was a concert hall for country, jazz, and small touring acts, and then for local productions of ballet, community, and college theatre.
In 1994, the family of Davenport banker V.O. Figge and his wife Elizabeth, who was Henry Kahl’s daughter, donated the building to Scott Community College Foundation, which used it for academic purposes and the Capitol hosted events until 2010. The Eastern Iowa Community College District announced in August 2014 their intention to leave the Kahl Building and relocate to a new campus downtown.
A true partnership
Chris Ales and Jim Bergman bought the building in 2018, and later got Jeff Goldstein to invest in the Capitol (Goldstein served as emcee of Wednesday’s event).
“It took a lot of people involved in the project to get it to what it is today,” Bergman said Wednesday. The general contractor was Deer Creek Construction and most of the work renovating the entire building started about three years ago.
The plaster repair after water damage in the theater “was a monumental task,” Bergman said.
“This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be involved in this project,” Ales said, noting the whole building renovation cost about $24 million, declining to specify the theater portion.
The Kahl Lofts were done first, last September with 65 rental units, and the majority have been rented.
Ales (who has done several redevelopments of historic Q-C buildings) has said it’s vital to preserve historic buildings because they’re irreplaceable.
“This one is my coup de grace,” Ales said of the Capitol. “You just don’t get to work with these materials on new construction. There’s no way you could build this from scratch today. It’s really rewarding to work with these materials and have a finished product this ornate, and has all the history to go with it.”
He attended many concerts at the Capitol when he was a student.
Funding for the Kahl Lofts included affordable housing tax credits, and state and federal historic tax credits. The city gave the project an urban revitalization tax exemption, and the Capitol renovation has included historic tax credits as well.
“I am so happy that folks came together to put this iconic, historic place back into business and made it beautiful,” Davenport Mayor Mike Matson said at the Capitol Wednesday afternoon. “When you walk through the doors and just look at this, I think it’s majestic and it’s amazing, and just another place for people to come to the Quad Cities, come to Davenport.”
“We continue to try and improve; it takes partners and people to work together to make things happen,” he said. “Here we are, standing, getting ready to have shows again in this majestic place.”
“It’s so great to see this wonderful venue alive again,” said Davenport Ald. Marion Meginnis, who represents downtown. “It really is a picture palace, really gorgeous. I can’t wait to come and see what’s happening here. I am very pleased for downtown. We have great old buildings in this ward and I’m so grateful for the people who have done this.”
Planning new events
QC singer-songwriter Lewis Knudsen played before and after the Chamber press conference.
“I was always curious about the potential of it and the history of it,” he said. “It’s a huge honor to play for this.”
Knudsen didn’t move back to the QC until 2011, so didn’t get to see a show at the Capitol. He said he’s impressed with its ornate design.
Sam Summers of Des Moines-based First Fleet Concerts will be booking concerts, with the second one scheduled so far for Sept. 29, 2023 with the American rock band Blackberry Smoke. Davenport-based HIVE Event Consulting (Kate Dale and Jason Gilliland) also will schedule events and rent the building for private and public functions, including weddings, corporate events and receptions.
Summers, owner and founder of FFC, will not only act as promoter, but additionally as an owner of the Capitol. First Fleet Concerts are involved in numerous venues and events in the region, including Wooly’s, Val Air Ballroom, and Hinterland Music Fest.
“We’re pretty excited to do shows here,” he said Wednesday. “When Jim reached out with this opportunity and we came and did a tour of it, we knew this would be the perfect venue to add to our portfolio of offerings.
“I know agents are excited about it, to get shows running through this place,” Summers said. “The room and the space lends itself to a lot of different genres, some of which we’ve announced. We’ve got some really big ones we’re working on.”
The partnership with HIVE made a lot of sense to him. “I think we’ll do some great things,” Summers said.
The front area of the ground-floor seating is an open floor, and portable chairs can be added depending on the event, for general admission on the ground floor, he said.
The Sept. 29 Blackberry Smoke show will be general admission floor and reserved seating in the balcony.
For more events, visit the First Fleet Concerts site for the theater HERE.
