The Capitol Theater, located at the intersection of Acushnet Avenue and Deane Street in New Bedford, opened as a movie theater in 1920. In recent years, it fell into disrepair. CEDC purchased the building in 2019 and has reimagined it into a multi-faceted space that will address today’s community needs: affordable housing; healthcare, legal, and financial services; workforce and ESOL programs. In 2026–27, CEDC will renovate and fully activate the front of the building, offering 10,550 square feet of available retail, residential, and community space. The Capitol Theater restoration, now called the Capitol Resilience Hub, represents the physical and programmatic convergence of all CEDC’s focus areas.
A vibrant, community hub is within reach!
A dilapidated red brick building stretches along Acushnet Avenue in New Bedford’s North End, amid homes, shops, sidewalks, and the occasional tree. Entrances with peeling paints of blue, red and green beckon to long-gone customers, offering entertainment that hasn’t existed for decades. Two stories up, unseen to passersby, a green sanctuary sits in this otherwise urban jungle. Encircled by the tops of the building’s brick walls, a sea of green, red and brown plants emerges. Although they appear to be a garden, these plants have a much more essential purpose. READ MORE
