JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The wait is over. The paint and plaster are dry. And the newly renovated historic Florida Theatre in Downtown Jacksonville is set to reopen on Saturday, Oct. 28, 2023, at 8 p.m. in time for The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Mayor Donna Deegan and other local officials will participate in a ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday, Oct. 27 at 5:30 p.m., inside the lobby/auditorium for the big reveal of the renovations.
The Florida Theatre was closed in mid-July to renovate the 96-year-old facility. All the flaking and peeling decorative plaster in the auditorium has been repaired, the lobbies and the auditorium have been painted with fidelity to the 1927 color palette, the entire heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system has been replaced, and the building’s electrical vault has been moved from the first to the third floor.
But, probably the thing people will notice the most is that all of the theatre's public restrooms have been updated. Ironically, the Florida Theatre will reopen around the 40th anniversary of the last major renovation that took place in 1983.
This project has been a labor of love from the city of Jacksonville (who have matched private donations), Centennial Campaign donors and Florida Theatre members, who have been feverishly restoring the theatre to its original grandeur over the summer.
Everyone in Northeast Florida who has ever bought a ticket to a show at the Florida Theatre and paid the $4.50 restoration fee, played a crucial part in maintaining and preserving this Jacksonville jewel.