Back in 2009 the Downtown Dothan Redevelopment Authority invested in a vacant building, to bring more excitement into downtown.
It started with a forty thousand dollar down payment, and turned into the featured player’s theater.

A vacant building in downtown Dothan that was once a bikini bar was transformed into a theater.

"We entered into a partnership with the late Chip George and Joe Donafro and we came together to purchase this building and we want to bring in the featured players theater which is a family friendly event, something that adds to the art world of theater and really our overall mission of bringing people back to this area of downtown." Downtown Dothan Redevelopment Authority Executive Director Jansen Tidmore said.

In the end, the downtown redevelopment authority bought the building.

"We put down the down payment and the rest is financed under them. We put up a total of over forty thousand dollars to help them get this building and they covered each monthly expense paying us back from the rent that came through." Tidmore said.

Under the system, the theater was able to pay the d-d-r-a back, officially bringing this partnership to an end.
But Tidmore says it isn't a bad thing.

"This is a perfect example of what the D-D-R-A is here to do, we are able to be a catalyst for businesses and we are here to partner with businesses and provide some funds initially to help get a business off the ground." Tidmore said.

The money the D-D-R-A got back from the theater was able to be put back into downtown Dothan to help invest in other projects.

"So this is a win for us as the D-D-R-A, this is a win for the city, this is a win for the business that invest here, this is a win for the citizens because they get to enjoy something they usually don’t get to enjoy." Tidmore said.

Tidmore says there are some other projects that are going to be coming to fruition.
He hopes that when they do start, they will be just as successful as this one.