After being closed for three years, the Uptown Theatre has finally set a reopening date.

In May, the historic movie theater will officially reopen as a live entertainment venue. Swervo Development, the real estate company operated by Twin Cities developer Ned Abdul, announced the news on Tuesday morning. Swervo is the same entity that transformed a former National Guard training facility into the Armory in downtown Minneapolis. The company tends to keep a low profile; aside from a barebones LinkedIn page, it doesn’t even have a website. Still, Swervo has played an important role in the redevelopment of several Minneapolis properties.

Racket first reported on plans to redevelop the space back in January 2022.

The theater’s next era will officially begin with a May 5 kickoff party headlined by Minneapolis indie pop band Yam Haus.

In a Tuesday press release, Swervo officials said the revamped Uptown Theatre will soon be able to host “live music, comedy acts, townhall meetings, TED-talk speakers, one-act plays, film series, corporate and public events, and other live performances.”

The new venue is opening at a time of massive change in Uptown Minneapolis. Within recent years, Apple and other national retailers have departed the area, leaving stretches of vacant buildings along the once-populous Hennepin Avenue. Still, Abdul thinks the new venue can change the neighborhood for the better.

“We believe this unique entertainment venue will help to re-energize this business district into what it once was,” Abdul said. “Uptown will be relevant again. We believe that the new Uptown will create the kind of buzz that will bring this iconic neighborhood back.”

The new Uptown Theatre will feature standing room on the main floor and seating in the balcony. The venue also will include “premium boxes on the second level with in-seat service,” according to the release.

The mix of businesses in Uptown certainly has shifted over the years. Once a retail-dominant destination, the neighborhood has begun to shift to more experiential-oriented businesses. For evidence of that, look no further than the Seven Points mall, whose biggest tenant now is Arts + Rec, a mini-golf and bar concept. The former CB2 on Hennepin, meanwhile, is slated to be demolished to make way for apartments, restaurants, and a grocery store.

And farther down the road on Hennepin, historic watering hole Liquor Lyle’s is slated to be reborn as a pinball bar.