The ultimate goal is for the city to sell the Roanoke Rapids Theatre.

Today at a retreat on the venue, council agreed to explore marketing the theater with the surrounding land in Carolina Crossroads.

“If desirable, the surrounding property owner has indicated his willingness to agree to a selling price for the approximately 88 acres of land in the entertainment district near the (Roanoke Rapids Theatre) that would allow us to jointly market the RRT and this property together,” City Manager Paul Sabiston wrote in a memo to council. “The city would not buy this property but only market it. This would allow the city to deal with large scale developers that may be willing to buy the RRT in addition to raw land for a larger scale development.”

Sabiston told council the steps are to determine the net result of a sale. Ideally, he would like to see it sold for $21.5 million. “We’d have to see how that works out,” he said.

Mayor Emery Doughtie said he believes the goal is to sell the building and surrounding property. “That empty field is what’s going to make this property have value.”

The theater, Sabiston noted, “Was always meant to be the stimulus for the surrounding property.”

The city manager believes teaming with the land owner of the surrounding property makes sense. “I know the owner is willing to work with us. I think that might open up a lot more doors. I think that is the positive way to move forward. There’s a lot of energy to move forward with that.”