Pugliese grant funding helping move Grand Theatre restoration forward
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STEUBENVILLE -- Scott Dressel has come to see change as his friend.
Sixteen years into his all-consuming crusade to see Steubenville's historic Grand Theatre restored, Dressel figures every time he can scratch an item off the to-do list it gets his devoted corps of volunteers, the Steubenville Historic Landmarks Foundation, that much closer to the finish line.
"I'm sure we'll get it done," Dressel, president and lead volunteer with the Steubenville Historic Landmarks Foundation, said Friday. The foundation, a 501(c)(3), owns the theater and is run by 20 volunteer board members. "I might be 85, 90 years old but hopefully I'll live to see it. And if I don't, my son will."
Dressel figures they're already past the halfway point: So far, they've managed to stabilize the roof, remove all the asbestos, restore the façade and lobby, add an emergency exit tower and bring in new utilities. In the theater, the stage has been rebuilt and the original, ornamental plasterwork preserved wherever possible and painstakingly replicated everywhere else, including the ceiling above the balcony. While he's currently preparing to hang the massive chandelier he got from the old Capitol Theatre, the next major project is set to begin in just a few months.
"In February, we'll start construction on our bathrooms off the lobby because we have the money to do that now from the state of Ohio, and a sound system for in here, and maybe a few other small things," Dressel said, explaining they're also applying for nearly $1 million grant through the Appalachian Regional Commission. "It's a long shot but if we get it, we will also complete the fly loft stage reconstruction — that will allow us to put the pipe organ back in because those rooms will then be finished and dry."
The current ARC application, if approved, also would cover the fire suppression system, key to eventually hosting larger events.
Currently, a $10,000 grant from the Charles M. and Thelma M. Pugliese Foundation is being used to paint the theater and balcony area.
The grant is huge, Dressel said, since it's going to take about 150 gallons of paint and primer --- and that's just for the base, which will be an antique white.
While it's not in their immediate plans, he said they hope eventually to have the detailing in the ornamental plasterwork highlighted with color, no small feat since it will all have to be done by hand.
"Painting the whole theater, with all the colors and everything, will cost over $100,000," he said.
But once the scaffolding is moved out and the painting done, he said SHLF can focus on preparing for what he hopes will be a busy fall and winter season. While the details are still being worked out, he said they hope to schedule several smaller events --- up to 299 patrons --- in the reconstructed theater, using temporary seating for the time being.
"Eventually we need to have 'real' seats, but that’s expensive, too, so we’ll be doing that as money allows," he said.
"To date we've spent about $3.5 million, which is why we can finally open a little bit," he said. "The general estimate right now is $3 million-$4.5 million to complete (the restoration), but it depends on how quickly we can get to it before prices go up. Some of the stuff we want to do, like the new marquee, we won't need for a (while)."
When they do get around to it, the new marquee will likely cost in the $800,000 range.
"If we were funded, it would be two years and we’d be finished," Dressel said. "That's the exhausting part. And since we started this 15 years ago, the price of doing it has gone up by about 60 percent... it’s just gotten to be more expensive. But if we were fully funded now and got it done, it would cost less than what it will if we have to drag it out over the next few years. But the nice thing is we can do some small things now and can actually start generating some revenue that we can reinvest into the theater as well. It would be nice if we could get to the point where we had all the fire suppression in this area, so we could actually seat 800 people in here, and generate more substantial revenue to reinvest in the (project) as well, because we don’t need everything right away–we don’t need the elevator right away and we don’t need the new marquee and sign right away... that’s almost $2 million right there. We do need the fire suppression system."
Over the years the project has enjoyed grant support from the Clean Ohio Revitalization fund and Save America's Treasures Historic Preservation Fund, as well as previous grants from Pugliese, ARC and the state of Ohio.
Visit the SHLF's Facebook page, Grand Theatre for the Performing Arts, Steubenville, or their website, historicsteubenville.org, to find out how you can help, he said. Donations also may be sent to the Grand Theatre, 21 S. 4th St. Steubenville, 43952.
Dressel said there's currently a renewed focus on downtown development, much of it sparked by the College of St. Joseph, and a private developer is preparing to demolish several storefronts that are beyond saving and replace them with a brewery/pub across from the theater. He'd also like to see a few restaurants crop up nearby to feed off what he hopes will be an active patron base attending events in the Grand Theatre, which he envisions as a community catalyst.
"Everywhere they do this-every city in Ohio that's done it, ever state across the country where people have opened an historic theater or even a more recent one, it creates traffic," he said. "We know it does. Back when all the theaters were running in town together, they seated 7,000 people. Can you imagine? That’s almost half of what our population is today at one time being somewhere downtown and then all coming out the sidewalk at the same time... that would be (amazing)."