In its heyday, the Grand Palace attracted stars like Jeff Foxworthy, George Jones, Ray Charles and Reba McEntire, but most recently it has attracted vandals.
The 90,000-square-foot theater located on 76 Country Boulevard was built in 1993. Hall Corp. purchased the property from Herschend Family Entertainment in 1997, according to Lynn Hall, of Hall Corp. For years, the theater attracted stars from across the nation and at one point in time, was estimated to draw as many as 500,000 people to the area in one season. Today, though, it sits empty.
“Our family doesn’t have any interest in the entertainment industry anymore,” Lynn Hall said earlier this week.
He hopes someone will take an interest in the property, though.
“It is the biggest stage in the area,” Hall said.
Realtor Dick Hall, of Branson Realty Inc., added, “The original acts Silver Dollar City had in there, like Kenny Rogers, headlines like that, were real revenue generators for the city.”
Lynn Hall and Dick Hall are not related.
The property is currently leased by Paul Dunn, but Lynn Hall said Dunn violated the lease.
Dunn worked on the property in the summer of 2010, but in July, the city issued a stop work order on the property after an engineer removed himself from the job. Dunn had wanted to hold a Nelly concert in the parking lot while work was done on the inside of the building.
According to Dick Hall, the property is currently listed for $10 million, but the condition of the building is nothing like it was when it was originally built.
“I sold that to Hall entertainment in 1995 and comparing it in ‘95 to today, it is in horrible condition,” said Dick Hall.
The theater has been stripped of its light and sound system and copper wiring.
“It has been vandalized,” Dick Hall said.
The building also sustained water damage in the winter of 2008.
Dick Hall said, in his opinion, it would take $3.5-$4 million to bring the Palace up to code and open it again. It needs work inside and out.
“I would hope someone would buy it, tear it down and put up another tourist attraction,” he said. “It is too big for smaller acts and too small for bigger acts.
“It was built by Silver Dollar City (which is owned by Herschend Family Entertainment) to be an icon of the city. Unfortunately, it should have been bigger.”
He has a quote from a Springfield firm that could tear down the building for $900,000.
The property consists of 13.2 acres. Dick Hall said that is enough for a couple of smaller theaters and even a hotel.
“It is going to need to be something different. I don’t know what that something different would be.”
He described the location on 76 as “dynamite.”
“It is the best location of that amount of acreage on the strip,” Dick Hall said. “It could be just about anything, except the Grand Palace.”
He said he does get calls about the building, but wouldn’t say there are any prospective buyers or people looking to lease it.
“Most people are just curious about it,” Hall said.
Dunn’s lease, according to Dick Hall, is up Jan. 1, 2012.
“We can sell it, subject to his lease or someone could buy his lease out,” he said.
