Despite having come all the way from California to pursue a business venture in Kenedy, Sam and Teresa Condon still have a long way to go. They’re set on making something new happen in Karnes County, though. They want to open a movie theatre.

Some might consider the idea something old happening, seeing as the county used to have a one-screen theater in Kenedy at one point in time. Sam Condon figured there wasn’t a better spot to put the new one, and he’s let his obsession with history and historic buildings make a run for it.

"Holy cow, how did they use that for a bathroom?" is one of the first questions Condon said he asked himself when he saw the building for the first time.

Dust, rot, and trash made up most of the old Rialto Theatre on Kenedy’s Main Street.

The restroom facility was tucked away underneath a stairwell. Even back when the theatre was in operation, it would’ve taken an act of contortion just to sit down in the tiny hole beneath the stairs.

The entire roof needed replacing, as did plenty of beams inside the main structure. The man who sold Condon the property took his check before he and his wife got to see the place, but the seller told them he’d refund their money if they had second thoughts after seeing it.

They nearly took the guy up on the offer.

"We’re not doing this for the money," Condon said. "We’re doing this because we think it’d be cool to have a theatre. I like old buildings. If I could afford to buy every old building in the world and put them on one big piece of property and rehab every one of them, I’d do it."

Giving up on the project would’ve been boring, Condon reasoned. Boredom was what drove him to browse the Internet for sale properties in the first place. He came across the old Rialto on the Web auction site eBay. It had been re-listed for sale four different times, but something told Condon it would make a great hobby project.

That same something hit him when he and Teresa got over the initial shock of the building’s state. They closed the deal and invested $1,000 in the tools they’d need to begin repairs.

Both truck drivers, the couple spent lots of time on the road working and saving up money. In between jobs every couple months, they’d come to Kenedy to work on the Rialto.

The dream was moving right along until someone got greedy. December last year, a thief broke in and swiped a power generator, an air compressor, skill saws, three nail guns, and a lot of other miscellaneous tools.

Sam and Teresa were heartbroken and once again ready to give up.

"That set us back a lot. We were ready to sell it to somebody for even less than we paid for it just to get the hell out of there," he said. "We calmed down about it and the police department was pretty positive about being able to find (the tools). We just decided it doesn’t matter where you’re at in America, (things) like that can happen."

They went back out on the road to make their living and some good news came their way. The Kenedy Police Department had recovered their generator, the most expensive item stolen from the building. The department currently is working on tracking down the rest of the tools.

In the mean time, the response from the public has served as positive encouragement for Sam and Teresa. When they’re in town and working on the place, people stop to ask questions and tell stories. Lots of folks are getting excited at the idea of having a theatre back in town, according to Sam.

He said the conversations remind him why he chose to rehabilitate an old building here rather than building a new facility.

"It won’t have the story behind it," Condon said of a new building. "We’re down there working and we’ve got people coming up to us telling us ‘I remember when I came to this theatre when I was a kid.’"

Now the two have plans to move to Kenedy permanently and devote more attention to the project. There’s still a good stretch of road ahead. Condon estimates there are probably five years of work left to do before the place can open up.

He said he’s in it for the long haul despite that, though.

Condon said he doesn’t plan to take government grant money to fix the place up, but he did mention help from area residents interested in volunteering time, materials, or anything else would be welcome.

More information on the Rialto Theatre project is available at the Condons’ Web site, www.oldrialto.com.