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For the first time in nearly four decades, Lansdowne Theater is set to open its doors Aug. 22 with a presentation of “Chazz Palminteri: A Bronx Tale.”

A 1987 electrical fire forced the movie theater to shutter and the century-old structure has sat unused ever since. Ownership of the building changed hands before falling under the possession of the Historic Lansdowne Theater Corporation in 2007.

The nonprofit has been working to turn the former silent movie house into a concert hall. After years of raising money and restoring the building, the marquee in the borough of Lansdowne will finally light up once more.

“It’ll certainly be a feast for your ears for the concerts here, but it’ll also be a feast for your eyes,” said Matt Schultz, executive director of the Historic Lansdowne Theater Corporation.

Reopening the 1,280-seat theater was not easy. There were quite a few setbacks delaying the completion of the $20 million revitalization project, but supporters of the restoration believed it served a larger purpose.

“It’s not just about the building,” Schultz said. “It’s about enhancing the community and creating jobs in businesses that are going to locate around the theater.”

Schultz said it is already happening. Backstage + Tap Grill recently opened across the street. He said he recently spoke with a developer who has plans to build a nearby apartment complex. Schultz projected the theater to bring in at least 100,000 patrons each year.

“It’s situated in the middle of the business district and to have it empty was just not acceptable,” said Robert Jara, board president of the Historic Lansdowne Theater Corporation.

The nonprofit has brought in BRE Presents to run the operation as a concert promoter.

“We’ll become landlords to great tenants, but it’s kind of like your child is going away,” he said.

‘We had everybody bought in on this project’: Bringing to life an old theater

Lansdowne Theater first opened in 1927 when Warner Bros. partnered with a local film exhibitor to lease the building.

“It was a silent movie house, so it had a theater organ and an orchestra that was in an orchestra pit that performed along with the movies,” Schultz said.

The building later adjusted to accommodate movies with sound. Over the decades, the theater evolved and adapted until that fateful showing of “Beverly Hills Cops II” in 1987, when a fire in the electrical system upended the entire operation.

Although the theater did not burn down, the owners were forced to shutter. Ownership changed repeatedly until the Historic Lansdowne Theater Corporation bought it in 2007.

“Our biggest challenge for a very long time was raising the money, raising the sufficient funds to really restore the building because the building had significant issues,” Schultz said.

The building needed a new roof, an upgraded heating and air conditioning system, modernized electrical wiring, a thorough paint job and seats. Adjusting the old theater to meet new codes while marrying modern technology with history required creativity — and money.

Federal, state, county and local governments across multiple administrations awarded grant money. More than 1,000 individual donors with ties to Lansdowne pitched in from places as far away as Tokyo. Volunteers jumped in to help.

“We had everybody bought in on this project,” Schultz said. “It was all those people who were able to get the vision to help us get this done and we deeply appreciate what they’ve done not just for the organization, not just for the building, but for the community as a whole.”

The nonprofit is working on a donor acknowledgement event as a “thank you.”

As he sat in the seat of the theater to take in a decades-long restoration project, Schultz pointed to his favorite part of the interior: the original tapestry hanging above the balconies.

“We took them down, we cleaned them, we mended them, we put a backing on them and we put them back up,” he said. “So those curtains are almost 100 years old. So they’ve seen everything that has happened in this building, they have experienced it, and they’re going to continue to experience the Lansdowne Theater and its new life as a concert venue.”