CARBONDALE, IL — The Varsity Theater will soon have a new owner, and a new purpose. 

According to the Southern Illinoisan, Kerosotes Theaters has agreed to donate the theater to the City of Carbondale. 

Mayor Brad Cole announced Tuesday that Kerasotes Theatres is going to donate the Varsity Theater at 418 S. Illinois Avenue “to the community,” and the building “will be available to become the permanent home of The Stage Company and likely other not-for-profit organizations such as Carbondale Community Arts.”

Cole said the theater closed in June 2003, a few months after he began serving his first mayoral term, and “there was much discussion about what could then go into that building to preserve its place in Carbondale, particularly its place in Carbondale’s downtown history."

The theater will be renovated and used as a performance venue for local theater groups. The theater was closed in 2003 when a new multiplex opened at a nearby mall.