Where many see an unassuming cottage-style roof and stucco walls in two shades of green, Macy Lao sees a space that could house Denver’s film community.

Lao and her husband, Kyle Hagan, have the keys to Berkeley’s historic Yates Theater at West 44th Avenue and Yates Street. The building has sat empty for decades and was last used as a piano shop before the turn of the century.

Lao and Hagan, who live in the bordering neighborhood Sunnyside, hope to be the first people to reopen the Yates Theater in the 21st Century — and to restore it to its original purpose. They just signed a 10-year lease with a plan to combine the theater’s past as a movie theater with Colorado’s burgeoning reputation in the film industry.

“I think there’s a real appetite here, and it’s highly decentralized,” Lao sa

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