DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Des Moines group has launched a $3 million campaign to bring back and revamp the iconic Varsity Theatre near the Drake University campus in Des Moines. The movie theater was a go-to venue known as an “art house” cinema that showed mostly independent and foreign films from the 1960s until its closure in 2018. The Des Moines Film Society’s campaign seeks to transform the one-screen theater into a modern cinema and film center dedicated full-time to screening first-run, foreign and independent films, among other screening events.

The effort comes as Drake, developers and business owners are investing millions to improve and expand the University Avenue business district sometimes known as Dogtown.