The Lyric Cinema Cafe, a quirky Fort Collins favorite, will be leaving its colorful, two-theater home on East Mountain Avenue by January 2017.

The new location will be on North College Avenue, across the street from Jax Outdoor Gear, said Projectionist and Manager Dillon Cole.

“It’s definitely a little further away from Old Town, but I think it will be worth it,” Cole said.

Plans for the new Lyric include three theaters sitting 100 to 200 each, a full bar and restaurant, a rooftop patio, an amphitheater and an outdoor screen framed by the mountains, featuring “bike-in” movies, Cole said.

“This is the same Lyric, just amplified,” Cole said, addressing concerns that the new location will lose the signature style of the Lyric. “We’ll still have the walls painted by friends and plenty of weird, silly plans. Think Jeep cabs in the theaters.”

Owner Ben Mozer said the move, three years in the works, will offer logistical benefits for the theater.

“Having such a small seating capacity and small screens means we have to struggle to get movies,” Mozer said. “More seats will mean not having to wait for the Cinemark to be finished with films before we can show them.”

Mozer said a team of artists, including local sculptor Les Sundee, are involved with the designing process.

“We have a lot of design flexibilty,” Mozer said. “It’s going to be a very strange place.”

Lyric employee Megan Rice, who will be staying on staff through the move, said she is ready for the bigger, busier Lyric.

“Busy is good,” Rice said. “We always want more people.”

Despite initial customer apprehension, Mozer said he is confident the move will have a positive effect.

“We’re excited to be able to use the entire space for anything our brains can imagine,” Mozer said. “I think of it not just as a theater, but as a congregation of arts. It’s all entertainment to me.”

Collegian Senior Reporter Rachel Musselmann can be reached at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @rmusselmann.