Carpenter Theatre
600 E. Grace Street,
Richmond,
VA
23219
600 E. Grace Street,
Richmond,
VA
23219
19 people
favorited this theater
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GREAT picture on front page of today’s Times-Dispatch,of interior work.Article on the project is in sec.B.
This is an interior view of the Loew’s Theater.
Please click into the website at the top. Apperently there has been very much progress since the last entry here on May 6, 2006.
Looks good for the old girl now.Today’s Times-Dispatch outlines the “final"plans.45 Million in a massive refurbishing and expansion.
Performing Arts Center Plans Put on Hold
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For months Mayor Doug Wilder has been battling the plan for a new Performing Arts Center along Broad Street. He’s raised concerns over public funding for the project and how planners are spending the money raised. On Wednesday the group backing the plan changed their vision for the project. The CEO and leader of the Performing Arts Foundation, Brad Armstrong, announced plans to step down from his position. He also said the entire organization is scaling back. The group said it will re-focus it’s efforts on a $43 million renovation and expansion project of the Carpenter Center. The foundation say it still plans to build the multi-million dollar facility at some point in the future. Armstrong said because of the controversy between the group and the Richmond Mayor, he will no longer depend on city funds. Armstrong’s resignation takes effect December 31st. Two years ago, Richmond City Council agreed to pass a meals tax referendum, meaning food and drink bought in the city have an added tax and that money would go to building the Performing Arts Center. Does that go away? Not yet. That money was to pay for pre-construction costs for the new downtown Performing Arts Center. Using credit, the city paid the foundation more than seven million dollars for those costs but the meals tax hasn’t raised all that money back yet. So until the city can repay itself for the money it already spent, the higher meals tax will stay on the books and city spokesman Bill Farrar says that could take at least a year, maybe longer. Things could get even more complicated because the Performing Arts Foundation claims the city still owes it an additional four million dollars and change. If that’s true, your Richmond restaurant bills may stay higher until the city can repay its final bill to the Foundation.
2005 Richmonder Of The Year
Jan 10, 2006, 03:44 AM CST Email to a Friend Printer Friendly Version
Mayor Doug Wilder
Style Weekly selects its “Richmonder of the Year” for 2005. Mayor Doug Wilder. Style Weekly says at 74, Mayor Doug Wilder is still going strong and that he’s been a dominating force when it comes to the way Richmond spends its money, including the fight to build a multi-million dollar Performing Arts Center downtown. The project crumbled under pressure from Wilder’s public criticism. Now arts groups are working with the mayor to fix the aging Carpenter Center and plans to build a new ballpark in Shockoe Bottom never made it to first base. “We have made Richmond government more accountable and more responsible…few months ago people were calling me the ‘Oger,’…the bad guy because I dare to even question,” says Wilder. Read more about 2005’s Richmonder of the Year in this week’s issue of Style Weekly. It hits newsstands Wednesday
Inspection says Carpenter Center is a fire hazard
Member of arts board calls the 32 violations ‘harassment by Wilder’
BY DAVID RESS AND WILL JONES
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITERS Nov 10, 2005
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of some of Richmond’s historic buildings.
RELATED: Richmond’s Downtown Performing-Arts Center
The Carpenter Center is a fire hazard, with sewer gas leaking inside and more violations of the state’s electrical-safety code than city inspectors could count in a two-hour examination this week.
Following the inspection, city officials issued 32 specific violations of state building and safety standards to the Virginia Performing Arts Foundation, which owns the historic theater.
“These are serious problems,” Building Commissioner Claude G. Cooper said. “There is a risk to safety; there is a fire risk with combustibles piled up and an electrical system in that condition.”
The foundation, in a battle with Mayor L. Douglas Wilder over its plans to build a $112 million performing-arts center with an expanded Carpenter Center, said it will appeal the inspection report. Wilder has said the group’s plans are unrealistic and that the city would put no more money into its project.
The city has given the foundation until Dec. 7 to fix the problems or face action by the city. Usually, that means going to court to seek an order requiring a property owner to make repairs.
After completing the inspection Monday, city officials refused to say anything about what they found except that the building was not so dangerous that the city had to ban people from going inside. The center has been closed to the public since December.
“We do property maintenance inspections all day, every day throughout the city,” Cooper said, noting that recent visits to the Miller & Rhoads building downtown and Stuart Court apartments resulted in owners undertaking needed repairs.
Martin Rust, former president of the Carpenter Center and now a member of the arts foundation board, said Carpenter Center board members were never made aware of “one single building code or safety violation” at the theater.
“Clearly this is harassment by Wilder,” Rust said. “Thirty-two violations is amazing. I’m not sure what they’re trying to accomplish. Are they trying to show it’s in good shape or bad shape?”
Joel Katz, former executive director of the Carpenter Center and now a critic of the arts foundation, said some of the problems cited by inspectors are longstanding deficiencies. For example, he said, a lot of electrical cords were used because the system was so limited.
Other problems, Katz said, evidently cropped up after the theater was closed. Inspectors cited combustible trash and debris in exit corridors, on steps and near boilers. Katz recalled those areas being clear in December when the Carpenter Center was closed and transferred to the arts foundation.
In addition to problems with fire protection, electrical wiring and plumbing, the notices listed faults with heating, air conditioning and ventilation systems, although the foundation has said it dismantled those systems this year.
The inspection seems likely to raise the temperature still more in the downtown arts-center scrap, which has pitted Wilder against powerful business leaders who have backed the project.
“You’ve got a fire trap at one end of the block and a hole at the other,” said Paul Goldman, Wilder’s senior policy adviser, referring to the excavation for the new music hall the foundation hopes to build next to the Carpenter Center.
“Obviously the Carpenter Center has been allowed to deteriorate,” Goldman said. “It’s like, if you don’t do it our way, we’ve set it up so you can’t do it any other way.”
Wilder has proposed that the foundation abandon the new music hall and focus only on renovating and expanding the Carpenter Center.
Goldman, meanwhile, has proposed that the city simply take over the Carpenter Center, make some minor repairs and reopen it without an expansion next year.
Arts groups have rejected the idea. Even though the cash-strapped city would have to pay for the building in order to take it over, and even though the theater’s value, as assessed by the city itself, is more than $6.6 million, Goldman said his option is still on the table.
“Look at Coop’s report — do you really think that building is worth $6.6 million?” he said, using the building commissioner’s nickname.
But some council members say Wilder needs to lighten up and let the foundation try to get its project back on track, dismissing Goldman’s proposal as ill-considered and costly.
“I’d like to know where the money is going to come from,” said council President G. Manoli Loupassi. “That’s why the private sector was involved to raise the money. If we just let them try to raise the money, they can raise the money.”
Contact David Ress at (804) 649-6051 or
Contact Will Jones at (804) 649-6911 or
Theater closing for an upgrade
Foundation’s gift gives Carpenter Center project more than enough money
BY WILL JONES
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Dec 23, 2004
The Carpenter Center for the Performing Arts is closing for renovations with more money to pay for them.
The E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation has given $1.125 million to fulfill a $2 million pledge for the historic theater, said Joel Katz, executive director of the Carpenter Center.
The Carpenter Foundation, based in Philadelphia, quietly agreed to the amount five years ago if an additional $6.5 million could be raised for improvements, Katz said.
Officials now have more than enough money to pay for the estimated $25 million project, which is a cornerstone to a planned performing arts center in downtown Richmond.
“We’re delighted the Carpenter Foundation recognizes the success of our fund-raising drive and has transmitted the prescribed amount,” Katz said before a reception last night marking the closing of the theater.
The $2 million total includes the $1.125 million sent by check this month and a $375,000 loan that won’t have to be repaid, Katz said. The Carpenter Foundation set up the loan in 1988 to put the theater on better financial footing, he said.
By forgiving the loan, “they have confirmed to the community that this is a successful, well-run organization,” he said.
The gift also includes $500,000 given two years ago to the Virginia Performing Arts Foundation, which is leading efforts to build the downtown arts center.
A representative of the Carpenter Foundation could not be reached.
The Carpenter Center, at Sixth and East Grace streets, opened in 1928 as the Richmond Loew’s movie palace and closed in 1979. It reopened as a performing arts theater in 1983 and was given its current name two years later in honor of a $1.5 million gift from the Carpenter Foundation.
The theater, a state and national historic landmark, is expected to be closed about two years. Plans call for expanding and modernizing the lobby, as well as building a stage house big enough to accommodate Broadway shows. Demolition of the current stage house is expected to begin in January or February, Katz said.
While the Carpenter Center is closed, most of its regular events and users are shifting to the Landmark Theater, which is scheduled for improvements in a second-phase of construction for the downtown arts center.
Contact Will Jones at (804) 649-6911 or
Is The Carpenter Center A Health Hazard?
Nov 11, 2005, 02:48 AM CST
http://www.wtvr.com/Global/story.asp?S=4104787
Richmond’s Carpenter Center could be hazardous to your health. That’s according to the city’s building inspector who found more than 30 safety violations in the historic theater. The Carpenter Center closed last year for renovations. Most of the problems surround the plumbing, electrical wiring and ventilation systems. The Virginia Performing Arts Foundation owns the center and some members are questioning the timing of this report calling it “harassment.” Last week the city went public with its plans to possibly buy the center from the foundation and opening it open back up to performances. The mayor says the arts foundation should not get special treatment and must follow the city’s building codes just like everyone else. The city is giving the foundation about a month to bring the building up to code. The arts foundation plans to appeal the city’s findings.
Work on Richmond Performing Arts Center Halted by City
By Emily Quinn
15 Aug 2005
The city of Richmond, Virginia, has ordered that work stop on its new performing-arts center, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports.
City officials say that the Virginia Performing Arts Foundation, the organization behind the center, has failed to get the necessary inspections required by state building codes, and that construction cannot continue until the permits are reapproved by the city.
In addition, city officials are concerned that the foundation doesn’t have enough funds to finish demolition of part of the Carpenter Center, and that interrupting the work could endanger the remainder of the historic theater. Bill Farrar, city spokesman, said that although the foundation claims to have renewed its demolition permit, the city did not agree to such an extension.
Brad Armstrong, president of the Virginia Performing Arts Foundation, said that there is enough money, between the foundation’s currently raised funds and pledged funds, to cover the current demolition costs, including steps to protect the Carpenter Center.
This is not the first time the foundation and the city have disagreed over the project. Last April, the foundation revealed it would not make its fundraising deadline and asked the city to waive the deadline entirely. The city did, but in July, mayor L. Douglas Wilder said he would not release any more city funds for the project, which needed, in his estimation, to be scaled back.
The new center is intended to be a home for the Richmond Symphony and other groups.
Good article today in the local cage liner on the current condition of the theater and the problems with it.
THE PLOT THICKENS!!!Today’s Times-Dispatch has a lovely picture of the great house with the headline and story indicating that the city may “seize” the place and reopen it pronto w/o extensive “renovations”.Quotes from the usual suspects.
What a travesty if this magnificent theatre was demolished. A list of the name of all those who are involved to do this foul deed should be publicized and letters of protest sent to them.
Chuck1231: Thanks for posting the ‘agilitynut’ photos this past September. This theatre certainly has a beautiful facade and is worth saving!
ghamilton: Can the Times-Dispatch article be posted here? What is going on with this theatre which is an Eberson atmospheric!!!!!
Life’s too short: What’s the latest with this Eberson/atmospheric theatre in Richmond VA? I agree…..how does the situation go from a 2 year renovation to a large scale demolition in what seems, overnight? Someone needs to sit down with the Mayor of Richmond!
For those of us who are not in the know: what is the whole story? This sounds horrible. How the situation go from a two year renovation to large-scale demolition?
Grat array of color photos of the Carpenter Center AKA Loew’s Theatre.
http://www.agilitynut.com/p/carpc404.jpg
http://www.agilitynut.com/p/carpc2404.jpg
http://www.agilitynut.com/p/carpc4404.jpg
http://www.agilitynut.com/p/carpc3404.jpg
The saga continues.Today’s Times-Dispatch has another fine article on the war over the Carpenter Center.This soap opera continues to descend into the depths of stupidity that has surprised even me,a total cynic.I had thought cooler heads would have risen to the top by now,but no,everyone in the loop are keeping the loop below the surface of the sewage lagoon,probably the big one right across the James from downtown-the one East of I-95.
I’ve just gotten the whole story on the fight to demolish the Carpenter Center. My daughter is ready to chain herself to the building!! I’ve never been in a more beautiful building than the Carpenter Center, and I’ve seen some very memorable shows there. It’s one of the rarest gems in Richmond. To have someone tear it down would be like taking part of Richmond’s soul.. and a piece of everyone that’s ever been inside those beautiful doors. I will truly be crushed on the day the Carpenter Center gets torn down.
Brilliant,Jim.
Often in such cases, it is that the politicians secretly owe a debt to a large campaign contributor, and this land may have been the price of their donation agreed upon years ago. In such cases, nothing shy of a court order will stop them. After all, don’t our ‘loyal’ politicians have to find money to stay in power? So what is a beautiful landmark or two to them? After all, they always have huge egos and think that it is they themselves who are the real ‘landmarks’! Woe to the few movie palaces as remain: they are all possible ‘freebies’ to political hangers-on who give enough under the table.
Article in the Times-Dispatch today shows the current state of the bloody battle.It’s going to get a lot uglier.
The fight just gets uglier.I am quite disturbed by how much of the original theater is suppoed to be demolished.Mayor Doug has thrown a lot of wrenches in the gears,but that may be a good thing.Someone should look at reality.How can so much of a listed property be destroyed?The egos in this fight are so transperent and self serving.The good and honorable mayor may even want some of the city’s mis spent $ back.WHAT A NIGHTMARE!!
There are pictures here
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