Nicole Hayden

Times Herald

From the future third floor lobby of Sperry’s Movie House, patrons can look out the windows to see the expanse of Huron Avenue stretching through downtown Port Huron.

At the moment though, that lobby is just a maze of metal studs.

Dustin Hemmes, Sperry’s Movie House construction manager, said some drywall work will be starting next week, but the majority of it will be started in about two months.

“Since a lot of the mechanical and electrical and theater components have to go in the walls before the drywall is done, it will take quite a bit of time because we will be doing it in phases,” Hemmes said.

The boutique movie theater at 301 Huron Ave., in Port Huron, is slated to open in the fall.

The theater will have five movie screens on the first floor, seven screens on the third floor and a restaurant on the second floor. The theater will feature first-run films.

The building will have a total of 400 stadium style seats with lounge chairs. Each theater will have 27 to 40 seats, said Scott Beedon, Sperry’s Movie House general manager.

As for the restaurant, Beedon said they will be having meetings within the next few weeks to determine the menu offerings.

But until folks can come close to having a taste of that upscale theater food, construction work needs to be finished.

Once drywall work is complete, crews can start pouring concrete ramps on the first and third floors.

Window installation will happen in the early summer while movie screen and theater seating will be installed in the late summer.

Work on the façade of the building will happen throughout the summer months as well. While the exterior will keep its historic integrity, the interior of the building will have a modern design.

Currently, there are large cut-out holes in a portion of the building where crews will build an additional staircase to meet safety code requirements.

The floors and walls have been stripped to their bare bones and spring breezes blow through the unheated spaces.

More than a dozen construction workers were working on various parts of the building Thursday afternoon. While some were tearing down structures, others were building new.

Slowly, Sperry's is seeing a new life.

“Seeing the metal studs go up is exciting and fast,” Beedon said. “But from here on it will look like baby steps through the summer. There are no hold ups, we just have to do everything in order.”

On the other side of town, there is still no definitive date for the opening of CityFlats Hotel. Construction crews are waiting for the last tenant, Bank of America, to move out of the building on the corner of Military and Water streets.

Contact Nicole Hayden at (810) 989-6279 or nhayden@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @nicoleandpig.