Jeff Pingel points to the Webster Theater marquee that needed some work even before the November 2023 fire that destroyed the building next door and forced the nonprofit that owns the theater to gut and restore the business.

If Jeff Pingel gets his wish, the Webster Theater will open in September.

When it does, it will be 10 years since the downtown Webster City movie house reopened the first time. That first time it stood empty was because the parent business closed.

This time, the popular theater was damaged by a fire next door. Flames from the roaring November 2023 blaze didn’t damage the theater, but water and smoke did. The result was that most of the theater’s interior — from the top to the bottom — had to be gutted.

That work will continue into the middle of April, Pingel said this week. It could cost around $300,000, he estimated.

When the demolition is complete, work will begin on another restoration. The money to do that will come from the theater’s insurance. It will not come from the insurance that covered the building that burned.

“No, he wasn’t negligent,” Pingel said during a walk-through of the gutted theater.

So fundraising that was ongoing when the fire happened must shift into first gear again.

Pingel is president of the nonprofit HERO board — Help Entertain and Restore Organization — that was formed to pump new life into the iconic theater. He has reflexively pursued this latest, necessary redo. Acoustic ceiling tiles, saturated with water, had crumbled onto the seats with their commemorative plaques, which were removed and saved for fresh seats. The movie screen, which was slit and destroyed by vandals in the fall of 2017, once again headed to the trash. Those screens are damaged by large quantities of dust, let alone choking smoke and cascading water.

Now the ceiling is down to studs, the second story taken to the bare bones too. The projection booth is emptied of its mechanics. The basement is dry; it was flooded when multiple fire departments converged on the day of the fire in their successful attempt to keep the blaze from spreading.

Two rooms still show signs of life: the concession booth still glows green with vibrant paint and, stowed away in a small alcove adjacent to the projection booth, are remnants of another opening.

Donations can be mailed to Webster Theater, 610 Second St., Webster City, IA 50595; to donate online: http://www.webstertheater.org/donate/.