POULSBO — Kitsap Children’s Musical Theatre has called about dozen buildings home during its 16-year existence. Now, the theater’s management is hoping its next home will be the former Albertsons building in Poulsbo Village Shopping Center.

Albertsons closed in July because, according to the company, it was underperforming. KCMT has conducted its rehearsals, set building and costuming in the former Breidablik Elementary School since June 2014; previously, it operated out of the former Courtesy Ford site on Viking Avenue. Performances are staged in the North Kitsap Auditorium.

KCMT executive director Kerby Criss sent a letter to Safeway/Albertsons inquiring about lease options, but had yet to receive a response by Dec. 16. (Albertsons and Safeway are owned by the same parent company. Safeway’s public information officer hadn’t responded to inquiries from the Herald as of morning Dec. 16.)

KCMT would likely lease the space, according to Criss. “We don’t have enough money to buy it,” she said.

This means they probably wouldn’t host productions there because that would require they build a stage and make changes to the space. Lease agreements typically don’t allow lessees to make significant changes to properties.

Criss added that if KCMT is ever able to purchase the property, it would indeed stage productions there.

She speculated that Safeway/Albertsons could be waiting to sell the property. If that’s the case, KCMT could “keep it warm for them” while they search for buyers, Criss said. This helps ensure the space doesn’t decrease in value because of lack of maintenance since the theater would be in charge of upkeep. “It’s in their best interest to let us rent it,” Criss said.

“We’d be able to do exactly what we’re doing at Breidablik,” Criss said. “Make costumes, rehearse and (make) sets and create props, and use it as a storage facility.”

The theater tends to run three productions at once and needs about 15,000 square feet to do so. It uses about two-thirds of the space of Breidablik, according to Criss.

“We would need the whole Albertsons building,” Criss said.

Albertsons is listed at 31,153 square feet.

The theater group (www.kcmt.org) is for ages 8-21 and stages three to four Broadway-style productions a year. It staged a production of “Mary Poppins” in November. Its next production, “Aladdin,” begins auditions Feb. 11.