ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTVA-CBS 11 News) The Eye Team has been trying to get Peach Investments to comment about their plans for months. Officials with the company are finally confirming that they want to restore the 4th Avenue Theatre.

They say they are in serious discussions to turn the 4th Avenue Theatre into a Hard Rock Cafe. In fact, The Eye Team has learned Peach Investments has put a call out to select architects for building proposals.

Now the big question is just what would it take to turn the historic theatre into a working building again?

The 4th Avenue Theatre has been a downtown landmark for more than 50 years.

"It was actually started in 1941 right before we got into World War II, then it was put on hold for about 5 years until after the war," explains Sam Combs, of Combs & Combs AIA, a architectural firm that specializes in restoring historic buildings, "It was started up again in 1946 and finished in 1947."

Since its glory days as a theatre, the building has been through two foreclosure auctions and been in limbo for two decades, most recently with plywood and broken windows.

"It's basically sat as a derelict building for several years now," says Combs.

Now Peach Investments is in discussions over the exclusive right to develop and operate a Hard Rock Cafe in downtown Anchorage at the 4th Avenue Theatre location.

But Combs says he has doubts the 4th Avenue Theatre would be the best place for a Hard Rock Cafe.

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"They like to put themselves in older buildings sometimes that are restored," says Combs, "Unfortunately, the 4th Avenue Theatre doesn't really conform to a restaurant."

The historic theatre is six stories high including the basement, and is a maze of corridors, offices, and theatre space, almost none of it up to code.

Turning the building into anything would require a major overhaul, which is why Peach Investments has put the call out for proposals from architects to turn the run down Theatre into a working building again.

According to Derrick Chang with Peach Investments, the development company is in talks with multiple firms to preserve the historic building, and is in discussions with Hard Rock Cafe officials.

Chang wont talk on camera, and wont say any more until things have aligned.

Though plans are only in the early stages things are moving foreword, but it is going to come with a hefty price tag.

According to Hard Rock's franchise investment information it takes $250,000 to $350,000 for the kitchen and bar package, up to $80,000 for Hard Rock furniture, and up to $125,000 for Hard Rock Cafe's signature signs.

In all it costs about $3 million to $5 million to turn a building into a Hard Rock Café, but that does not take into consideration the current state of the 4th Avenue Theatre or the lack of parking downtown.

Combs estimates it would take $1.2 million for the restoration alone. "That was basically to get the building back into a usable condition that could be open to the public," he says.

At the end of September, Peach Investments put a call out to select architects for building proposals.

It is unclear what was in the proposal requests, or if Peach Investments plans to combine any plans for the 4th Avenue Theatre with the plans they already have on file with the Municipality of Anchorage for a high rise and parking garage behind it.

Right now, there is no timeline for restoring the 4th Avenue Theatre, but it could take about a year to bring the building up to code.

To contact Andrea Gusty, call 907-273-3146.