The Steamboat Today is reporting that the community group Friends of the Chief has entered into a purchase contract for the Carmike Chief Plaza 4 in Steamboat Springs, Colorado:

A community group working to create a downtown cultural venue took a major step in that direction this week.

A spokesman for Friends of the Chief confirmed Friday afternoon that the group has placed the Chief Plaza movie theater in downtown Steamboat Springs under a purchase contract.

“We’re very, very pleased about this,” Jim Cook said. “All of the members of our board will be kicking in for the short term to secure equity for a bridge loan” that would buy time for the community group to pursue a U.S. Department of Agriculture loan tailored to helping small communities acquire cultural centers.

Friends of the Chief member Towny Anderson said restoring the small multiplex to a cultural venue that would seat as many as 470 could establish a new gathering place for the community.

“It’s more than nostalgia,” Anderson said. “It’s like getting a piece of your Main Street back in community hands. It re-establishes what they call the village well.”

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Carmike Cinemas currently operates the theater, and will continue to do so until its lease runs out in 2012.