PENDLETON — The people behind the renovation of the old Pendleton Cinema are deep enough in the process to ask for public money, but remain silent on who might move into the 415 S.W. First St. building.

The members of the Pendleton City Council met as the Pendleton Development Commission on Tuesday, June 9 to approve an application from the project’s contractor for a $98,293 façade grant from the urban renewal district.

The Eureka, California-based Carrington Co. bought the property in 2018, but it continued to lay dormant until a few months ago when construction crews began extensive work on the building.

Tim Leininger, an Idaho contractor with extensive experience working with Carrington, applied for a grant to help offset some of the costs of the $1 million project.

In the application, Leininger explains that Carrington is a commercial developer with properties in 18 states and a focus on shopping centers and malls in rural towns. Carrington’s nearest development to Pendleton is the La Grande Town Center, which includes a Rite Aid, Ace Hardware and Big 5 Sporting Goods.

“The company buys older properties, upgrades them and brings in new tenants, which is its intention in Pendleton,” he wrote. “To achieve success, it keeps the cost of purchasing and upgrading the buildings down, so as to keep rents down and make the property pencil for branded retailers seeking small retail space.”

The building was constructed in 1947 as a grocery store before it was converted to a movie theater in the early 1980s. During the construction process, Leininger wrote that construction crews were able to remove the ceiling and theater curtains to reveal the original trusses and under-decking, which they plan to refurbish and highlight in the new building.

Neither Leininger nor a representative from Carrington returned calls requesting comment.

Charles Denight, the associate director of the development commission, said in an interview that Carrington has several prospective tenants but have been “tight-lipped” on the potential store.

Denight said facade grant applicants don’t specify the exact amount of money they want for the project. Rather, the applicant will tally up the exterior renovation costs of the project and the facade committee can bestow anywhere between 25-40% of those costs based on a scoring system.

Although roofing costs can now be factored into façade grant applications, Denight said the $98,293 grant only covered 40% of the exterior costs since the developer was already deep into the roofing process.

If Carrington can secure a tenant by the end of the year, it will be the first time the building has been occupied since 2015.

Pendleton Cinema owner Bruce Humphrey had been trying to sell the property for eight years when Goodwill Industries of the Columbia agreed to buy it in 2015, and as soon as the deal went through, he promptly closed the movie theater and the property’s other occupant, DG Gifts, moved to Westgate.

Only a year later, Goodwill officials said they were no longer interested in starting a new store in the Pendleton Cinema building, citing concerns over labor costs and the distance the Pendleton store would be from Goodwill Industries of the Columbia’s headquarters in Kennewick, Washington.

Carrington eventually bought the property, which spans an entire block, for $250,000, less than half of what Goodwill originally paid.