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Around a decade of work leads up to Tuesday’s announcement

 

A project that has been 10 years in the making has received the green light to begin.

On Tuesday, officials with Austin Area Arts, including new Executive Director Tom Robbins, announced a renovation and expansion project for the Historic Paramount Theatre.

The project, which will cost a little over $4.3 million, will officially begin after the first of the year and is expected to go throughout much of the year to August when the official reveal is expected to take place during the Austin ArtWorks Festival.

“Once our renovation and expansion project is complete, buckle your seat belts,” Robbins said during Tuesday’s press conference. “We look forward to the future of the Paramount.”

Long discussed for the better part of a decade, the project got its most recent push when The Hormel Foundation announced in November that it was allocating $3.67 million in funding for the project.

“We really thought the team from the Paramount tailored the request this year to the right priorities and things that were within an affordable range in terms of what we had available in resources,” Hormel Foundation Chair Jeffrey M. Ettinger said at the time. “The board was very impressed overall with what they came forward with this time and we were eager this time to provide that support.”

That amount will account for 85% of the project’s total cost with Austin Area Arts needing to contribute 15% or $647,674 to the renovation and expansion.

However, the capital campaign, which also officially kicked off Tuesday, is looking to raise $1.2 million total to further support the project and the theater itself going into the future.

“First, cover the cost of construction,” said Randy Kramer, who co-chairs the project committee with Belita Schindler. “The second thing we really want to do is put the Paramount Theatre on a firm financial footing.”

From that $1.2 million goal, $327,000 will be put toward a maintenance and repair fund while another $225,000 will be put toward an existing mortgage on the Boardwalk Properties from 111-119 Fourth Avenue NE, which Austin Area Arts purchased a number of years ago.

So far, $370,000 in capital reserves has been raised with another $830,000 remaining.

Once work begins in January, the Paramount Theatre will largely be shut down throughout the construction run.

“We’re planning to go dark in January,” said Operations Director Kelsey Ritchie. “We might sneak in a couple shows, but we will go dark January through August.”

The project will incorporate a number of elements into the renovation portion of the project including:

• Regrading portions of the theater floor to create seven ADA compliant wheelchair spaces plus companion seats;

• New wider theater seats that will add ADA retractable arms on aisle seats dispersed throughout the theater;

• Acoustical treatment of the theater and new sound system;

• New theatrical lighting system;

• Rebuild the stage floor; and

• Relocate the piano storage to regain wing space.

In the annex portion next door to the west, a new opening will be created and four main floor restrooms will be added along with increased lobby space and a new concessions area.

New construction will involve:

• Creating an accessible stage access;

• Multipurpose room with folding wall (performer dressing/green room;

• Accessible performer bathrooms;

• New loading ramp; and

• New storage room.

“I’m just excited,” Ritchie said, who has been with Austin Area Arts for nine years. “They’ve been talking about this before I started. It’s a dream come true.”

Schindler agreed, giving a laugh when asked about this next step.

“What a relief. How exciting,” she said. “When we were still planning on doing the big addition next door, we went up to Minneapolis to interview the architect. It was nine years, one month and one week until we heard the Hormel Foundation was going to give us the money.”

“And people before us have been working on this,” she added.

The impact of the project is expected to improve the patron experience at the theater as well as the performer’s experience coming in to use the stage.

Schindler said there is also a project that’s comparable in the city that already shows the benefits to the city such a project can make.

“I hope we can get in here during what’s going on and see what’s going on,” she said. “When we put the addition onto the Hormel Historic Home, one of the questions we heard was ‘who is ever going to use it?’ Well you know where it is today and I think that’s what’s going to happen here.”

Anyone wanting to donate to the project can make checks payable to Austin Area Arts with a note for Paramount Project and they can be delivered to Austin ArtWorks Center, located at 300 North Main Street in Austin.

Those wishing to contribute by credit card should go to www.austinareaarts.org.

Both one time or multi-year pledges are also accepted.

For more donation options, call 1-507-434-0934 or email kelsey@austinareaarts.org.

“We’re so grateful for today and moving forward,” Robbins said.