This evening’s planning board meeting offered a few more details into plans being negotiated on the purchase of the Roanoke Rapids Theatre.

Those details came during a public hearing on amendments that would allow Internet cafes to be included in the entertainment district, in which the theater is located.

Roanoke Rapids attorney Bill White, who is representing a still unnamed client, told the planning board approximately 25 jobs would be created and there would be multiple shows, including matinees, at the theater.

These shows would include nationally known acts, he said following the meeting. He confirmed that Lafayette Gatling is not the client interested in buying the venue.

Approval of the amendments by the planning board this evening pave the way for the matter to go to city council and possibly public disclosure of the full plans should council take the planning board’s recommendation. “Now that the planning board has given its approval we can start working on the lease,” White said.

Council’s approval or disapproval will either make the deal or break it, White confirmed.

“There’s a lot of moving parts,” City Attorney Gilbert Chichester said following the meeting. “The city’s been negotiating for a potential lease.”

Chichester confirmed a selling price has been negotiated but declined to say what it is. “It will be a two-year lease with an option to purchase.”

Chichester said Bank of America has accepted the agreement and will agree to release the property.