Berkley Theater to reopen as live event space after 30 years

BERKLEY — After more than 30 years, the Berkley Theater once again will be hosting live events.

The Berkley Theater opened in 1941 and operated for over 50 years before its closure in 1993, when it last hosted a public viewing of “Jurassic Park.” Since then, it has been a Perry Drug Store and Rite Aid, which closed in September 2024.

With its future up in the air, the buildings eventually came into the vision of Glenn Wilhelm, who owns The Roxy in Rochester. Wilhelm was looking to open another location and was touring locations in 2025 when he learned of the Berkley Theater’s availability last June.

“We were looking to expand. We were looking to add another location. We looked at a couple of spaces that were available in other communities and … Berkley was the home run, runaway favorite of where we should go,” he said. “Based on the building, the community, the incredible marquee, all those things narrowed it down to Berkley very quickly.”

After a couple of conversations with the previous owners over the course of several months, Wilhelm purchased the theater on Oct. 1. Construction began at the beginning of 2026 to prepare the theater for opening as “The Berkley.” The current timeframe for an opening is the first week of June.

Wilhelm stated that construction has been going well so far and that the city of Berkley has been a great partner to work with. The combined costs of purchasing the building and construction is $4 million.

“When we first approached them, you’re not sure how a community is going to feel about a live entertainment venue and you don’t want to be where you’re not wanted. And Berkley definitely made us feel wanted in the community to spark some downtown development and some nightlife in that downtown,” he said. “The progress so far is we’ve got all our city approvals, our liquor license approvals, demolition is complete and now we’re starting the building process. So, the stage is up; the bar is up. We’ve got some work to do in the restaurant portion, but it’s progressing along very quickly.”

When Wilhelm first began to show his interest in the Berkley Theater and began talking to members of the community, the first question he received from everyone was what would he be doing with the famous marquee that has stood above the city’s downtown even after the theater’s closure.

Wilhelm assured them that the marquee is here to stay and would be receiving updates as part of the construction.

“That’s an iconic part of downtown Berkley’s identity,” he said. “We’re not going to be … doing any significant changes to the marquee. The only changes that we’re looking at (with) the marquee is maybe switching it over to LED lighting and things like that, just updating it, but the structure of the marquee is going to stay the same.”

Inside the theater itself, the building has been undergoing work, with Wilhelm stating that they are doing what they can to pay homage to the history of the Berkley Theater, though some aspects of what it used to be are gone after it was converted into a drug store.

Jeffrey Tong, of the Berkley Historical Museum, was able to get a tour of the ongoing construction and see inside the theater where he spent many a day of his childhood.

“I was thrilled to get back in there, and I was thrilled to see that there’s a little bit of the original painting on the wall that hasn’t been covered up yet,” he said. “I remember just what it looked like.”

“When I was little, every summer they would show on Wednesday children’s matinees,” he said. “They showed two movies and a cartoon and a continued movie, and I remember it was 14 cents to get in, and Mother would give all of us three boys a quarter each, and we would be gone all day to the Berkley Theater.”

As for the kind of events the theater will host, Wilhelm said there will be a wide variety of events from live bands, national touring acts and local bands to comedy shows, dueling piano shows and drag queen bingo. He also plans to work with the Berkley School District and has booked Berkley Days for a future event.

“We’re going to do a lot of different things there and then see what the community responds to,” he said.