On the morning of Wednesday, January 29 the City of Waycross posted on their Facebook page: “Waycross crews will be removing HVAC units from the Lyric Theater starting at 8 a.m. on 1/30/2025. The road will remain open, but drivers should use caution in the work zone. A crane will be in use and secured with cones and barrels. Thank you for your attention.”
Within moments of the crane arriving onsite, social media was inundated with false information about the Lyric being torn town. By the end of the day, according to the fast- spreading false information, the building had been reduced to a pile of rubble.
In fact, a small team of workers had arrived in front of the building with one crane. They neatly removed the HVAC unit, left a tidy worksite behind, and went on their way.
William Gross, owner of W.H. Gross Construction Company, is the owner of the Lyric Theater. Gross said in a phone interview, “There was old mechanical equipment up on the roof which, during the during the last storm, made us have concerns. I didn’t want stuff flying off and damaging anyone or people’s property.”
Mr. Gross does not have plans to demolish the Lyric.
“We do have planned, in the next few weeks, to get on the inside and start getting it cleaned out,” he said. “I have several folks who have expressed interest and it will be a lot safer and present better if we get the inside cleaned up. I can assure you, we don’t want to do anything to jeopardize the historical or the structural nature of the building.”
W.H. Construction is responsible for the rehabilitation of both the Ware Hotel and the Bunn Building in downtown Waycross.
“I have a passion for historical restoration, but the economics have to work, too,” Gross said. “The main thing I want to do is make sure that whoever, whether I complete the project or someone else completes it, they keep the historical nature of the building.”
Gross has owned the Lyric for about 4 years.
“A lot of people don’t know this, but the Lyric Theater started in the bottom of the Bunn Building in 1912,” said Gross. “We found a newspaper article about the Lyric going in there with Mr. Bunn who was the owner developer of the Bunn Building. At some point the theater relocated and had it’s own marquee.
“When we remodeled the Bunn Building it had sloping floors in one unit downstairs to the right of the elevators the walls were painted like a movie theater walls.”
According to cinematreasures. org, the Lyric was most likely designed by Valdosta architect Lloyd Greer and opened at its present location in 1923. Greer also designed the Moultrie Theater in Moultrie, Ga. and the Ilex Theater in Quitman, Ga.
By 1934 the Lyric was being operated by motion picture distributor United Theater Enterprises, Inc. In 1953 it was moved to Paramount Pictures, Inc.
“It’s just a mess now,” said Gross. “About a third of the roof is caved in. “We’re getting it safe for people to walk in. We’ve got to do a really good demo job so you can see what opportunities it has how it inspires you to come up with different concepts.”
