The outside of the Colquitt Theatre’ s office newly painted and renovated, in May of 2025.
Municipal Court to answer to“ nuisance” charges because the building’ s run-down condition posed a safety hazard. At that point, to no surprise, the owner agreed to donate the Colquitt Theatre to the city to avoid a court appearance.
The City tried its best to get someone to buy the building and renovate it into a business but was unsuccessful.
It wasn’ t until 1993 that the City of Moultrie received a Community Development Block Grant to convert the Colquitt Theatre into a senior citizens’ center. In typical government fashion, it took a year and a half for the state historic preservation section to approve the renovation. Finally, after another year and a half, the new Moultrie Senior Center opened in October 1996.
Rising again from the ashes and given new life, the Colquitt Theatre served as a place for the seniors of Moultrie to gather every day for fellowship and activities for almost 25 years. And folks, if you never got a chance to visit the senior center while it was open and vibrant, you truly missed something. I had the honor of attending a“ Senior Prom,” watching funny skits performed by the seniors at various times; attending Christmas Lunches complete with musical programs; and, once, I even attended a mock wedding that brought me to tears laughing.
Unfortunately, with the arrival of the pandemic and social distancing, the Southwest Georgia Council of Aging, who was leasing the building, closed the center in 2020, and it never reopened. So, at the end of 2020, the City Council turned the Colquitt Theatre over to the Downtown Development Authority hoping the organization could use it as an incentive for someone to develop the entire block.
Now, the Colquitt Theatre, which turned 83 years old in May, will rise once again to become a welcome addition to downtown and it couldn’ t be in better hands. Susana and Alan Torres bring two decades of culinary expertise from working in the family restaurant business and attending culinary school. I, for one, am over the moon
about having a family-owned Italian restaurant in Downtown Moultrie. The fact that it is the evolution of Rocco’ s food truck makes it even more appealing to me and a lot of other folks who have also tasted their incredible food.
“ Without a doubt Moultrie is on the verge of great expansion. The pent-up energy of hundreds of business leaders here must find expression and it will be in doing-not talking, so look out for a building boom,” said Powell, in 1941, before construction began on the Colquitt Theatre.
With new businesses opening and new development projects happening both in downtown and outside of downtown over the last few years, it feels as if Powell could be describing where we are today … and I think he’ d be pleased that the Colquitt Theatre is still part of it.
JUNE 2025 MoultrieScene 33