![]() Homeless in Branson: Musician plays guitar next to Walmart on the strip In his view, there are too many steps in the concert seating area to accommodate disabled people and those who have difficulty with stairs. That is when I made the decision to leave as soon as possible. Obviously he did not flip the property, and he got a rude awakening as to how difficult it was to run the theater."Ĭanella said the theater is beautiful but only has about half of the parking spaces it needs. "He wanted to flip it within five years and make some cash on the real estate. "Shortly after entering into the agreement, Osmond told me he only had short-term plans for the venue," Cannella told the News-Leader in an email Wednesday. ![]() He said he leased the Moon River Theatre from Jimmy Osmond in 2014-2015. It went on the market in November 2019, priced at $6.7 million, according to reporting by KOLR, a figure subsequently cut to just shy of $6 million - "significantly below replacement cost," according to online sales literature by SVN.īob Cannella, owner of Up Close Concerts, has brought big-name acts like David Spade and William Shatner to Branson. It was a heady time in Branson: $88 million in building permits were approved in 1991 and early 1992, News-Leader archives show. The year Moon River opened, CBS's "60 Minutes" profiled the town on national television, prompting an influx of interest and development.ĬOVID-19 coverage: Branson to test wastewater for coronavirus as part of statewide programīut more recently, the 11-acre property has not found a buyer. The magazine called the theater a "showplace" and dubbed it "Moon River Realized," a reference to Williams' 1962 version of the chart-topping pop song.Īnd the state of Missouri awarded Moon River Theatre its 1992 Conservation Award for Developed Land Use, due to its innovative architecture and site planning. "When I saw the dramatic limestone formations along the highway, I knew I had to include them in the design," Williams told Architectural Digest in August 1993. Homeless in Branson: As numbers climb, city and developers work to create affordable housingīut the theater's aesthetic intention was to represent the lush lands of the Missouri Ozarks, Williams said.Ī News-Leader columnist wrote in 1992, "The exterior's man-made rocks and flowing water remind of what the Ozarks looked like before the paving machines ran amok." ![]() Later he filled it with high-end works of art including drawings and sculpture by European modernists and Asian textile objects. He personally designed the theater, according to online sales literature from Ten-X and SVN. Williams spent $8 million (roughly $14.8 million in 2020 dollars) to build the 2,057-seat theater, according to News-Leader archives, and sought to establish a truly eye-catching venue for his world-famous act. Osmond did not immediately respond to an email sent by the News-Leader on Wednesday.Īs the News-Leader reported at the time, the Moon River Theatre opened on May 1, 1992, home to the first major non-country artist to perform in Branson, Andy Williams. They said owner Jimmy Osmond, who suffered a stroke in December 2018 that has kept the 57-year-old from performing since, was unavailable. ![]() Representatives at the theater's administrative offices in Branson also declined to comment Thursday. Mike Fusek, a senior advisor with SVN, the local real estate company working with Ten-X, told the News-Leader Thursday he could not comment on the sale. Online property broker Ten-X Commercial set the starting bid at just $1.5 million - pennies on the dollar compared to the cost of building the structure 28 years ago. A symbol of Branson's '90s-era zenith, the Andy Williams Moon River Theatre on Branson's Highway 76 strip is slated to go up for a three-day online auction on Monday.
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