UNIVERSITY CITY, Mo. — The renowned Tivoli Theatre and attached Tivoli Building in the Delmar Loop will be changing hands, and it won’t be long before films are shown again in the 1920s-era playhouse.
Developer Joe Edwards agreed this week to sell the Tivoli Building to One Family Church and Integrity Web Consulting.
One Family Church has been renting the theater and has held services for the last 10 years. The church, which has an ethnically diverse congregation and multiple locations around St. Louis, intends to continue operating the Tivoli Theatre during the week and holding services on Sundays.
Landmark Theatres had been leasing the space until last year when the COVID-19 pandemic struck.
One Family Church, which will purchase the Tivoli Theatre and the first and second floors of the Tivoli Building, will continue servicing the current retail tenants on the first floor.
The church welcomed an in-person congregation Sunday for the first time in a year. Lead pastor Brent Roam said he looks forward to providing a community service for his congregation and for filmgoers, though he’s not trying to compete with large theaters.
Roam said he is “excited for the opportunity to provide retail space for vibrant and growing businesses on the Delmar Loop, and reasonably priced, exciting and socially relevant films for students, families and film-lovers from all over the St. Louis region, while also providing passionate and life-giving church services on Sundays.”
Integrity Web Consulting, a leading marketing technology agency, will dedicate the third and fourth floors to servicing existing clients, recruiting design and technology teams, and launching new web products and companies.
“We are thrilled to build a permanent web innovation hub right here on Delmar,” Integrity CEO John Simanowitz said. “Institutions, startups and Fortune 500s have realized true innovation requires diversity, culture, collaboration and community – everything Delmar is. When you surround yourself with like minds, you will always go farther faster. Delmar is well-positioned to be St Louis’ web technology center.”
The Tivoli Theatre and Tivoli Building date to 1924. Edwards, who with wife Linda also owns nearby landmark Blueberry Hill, bought the property in 1994 and restored it from a somewhat woeful state, with standing water in the basement and the buildings starting to collapse.