They are not happy with the County's Playhouse plan
The excuse we were given was that the original building was a movie theater and that it couldn't be restored, so they would just keep the facade, put in retail, restaurants, a parking garage and residences and demolish the theater and rebuild. Their plan to "incorporate original elements" is to stick them in the lobby with plaques.
I find this personally insulting. I think they chose the wrong firm for the job. As far as I know there was no bidding process (even though public funds will be used) and Arquitectonica was chosen without any public input. There is no doubt they are spectacular architects, but not for a restoration project like this. They are trying to modern the crap out of this thing.
I am attaching three images. One of the playhouse as it is now, one of a rendering by Richard Heisenbottle, who oversaw the restoration of the Colony Theater (which is gorgeous and was originally a movie theater) and the AMAZING Olympia Theater, and the Arquitectonica plan as it stands now. Please tell me what you guys think.
There is a community meeting tonight October 19 to discuss the plans. I encourage everyone to show up and voice their opinions.
Katrina Morris
posted by Tom Falco at 9:00 AM
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5 Comments:
I don't know which I like better from two artistic renderings devoid of any details. How about we go with the plan that presents the most possibility for hosting successful performances that drive revenue for the rest of Grove businesses, that will be completed fastest and on budget with the lowest long term maintenance costs, and that maintains the most historical elements in doing so? Why can't someone just tell me what that design is and we go with that?
All of this bickering back and forth is only doing one thing which is more time that the Playhouse is going to sit in disrepair and more time that the Grove doesn't' have a performance center. Everyone needs to put their personal addendas aside and move this project forward. At the end of the day, it's a building...let's look past that and start thinking what's best for the community which is getting a usable theater as mentioned above.
Really? I live here & do not want a theater or more (empty) retail. Saving the fascia works for me, but the mixed use behind it is woefully outdated. A nationwide design competition would have seen some new thinking.
Land,
It's about the land,
And when there is land,
There are grabbing hands.
A historic building. The rest of the grove is not suffering because closed historic building.
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