A concert tonight will give the public its first look at millions in renovations to Ruth Eckerd Hall.
By EILEEN SCHULTE
Published October 30, 2003
[Times photos: Jim Damaske]
Eduardo Alpizar, an apprentice with APG Electric, works on lighting under the seats recently in the newly renovated Ruth Eckerd Hall.
A new 125-foot concourse underneath the seating will allow access between the east and west lobbies. The Grand Concourse, the most difficult project, is not yet completed. The theater hopes to open it in January.
Tiles signed by Ruth Eckerd performers, including this one from Johnny Cash, dot the walk outside the west lobby.
Source: Ruth Eckerd Hall, drawing by H. Fletcher Patterson, Architect P.A.
Ruth Eckerd Hall grand reopening
Renovations for Ruth Eckerd Hall that began in June 2001 are nearly complete. The hall reopens tonight with a performance of guitarists G3.
Among the improvements: • Upgraded sound system.
• Ticket office expanded to separate building with seven windows.
• Parking increased to 1,107 spaces, disabled parking to 27 spaces.
• Dressing room capacity increased to 88 to accommodate Broadway shows and dance companies.
• Seating capacity increased to 2,181, disabled seating increased to 25.
CLEARWATER - Although still in its teens, Pinellas County's largest performing arts center was showing signs of age.
Ruth Eckerd Hall's burgundy seats were creaky and its carpet faded.
But now, in time for its 20th season and after a five-month, $12-million renovation of its main stage, the hall is fresh again and will open its doors to the public for the first time tonight with a concert by the guitar group G3.
Before the project, Ruth Eckerd's restrooms were inadequate and it was difficult for concertgoers to get from the west side of the building to the east side. Increasingly, the main lobby became overcrowded as attendance climbed from 185,033 in the 1996-97 season to 243,222 in 2001-02.
So, taking extraordinary care not to disturb the acoustics, workers gutted the hall where so many famous artists have performed over the past two decades.
At one time during the reconstruction, when two-thirds of the floor was torn up to make way for a 125-foot passageway underneath the seats connecting the west and east lobbies, "it was Ruth Eckerd Canyon," said Lex Poppens, the hall's director of marketing and communications.
The project is more of a reconstructive surgery than a mere facelift, he said. "I think the first thing patrons will say is, "Something's different.' "
Here's what he means:
Every seat is new, with soft velour fabric and extra support and padding. Seven have been added, making the new capacity 2,181. And they're quieter - no more clinking when you get up, says hall chief executive and president Robert Freedman.
New carpeting, paint and a curtain, all in a teal color scheme, have been added. Restrooms have been expanded by 29 more for women, eight for men and six for the disabled. Also, 148 additional parking spaces have been added, and 12 spaces have been added for people with disabilities. New dressing suites and other amenities for performers were added.
Upgraded speaker components, a mixing console and a central sound cluster were installed.
There's a new ticket office, air conditioning system and other amenities.
One thing that hasn't changed is the configuration of the seats: There is still no center aisle, leading some theatergoers to wonder about fire safety. But theater officials and architects insist it's safe without one.
"All 2,181 people could be out (of the building) in two minutes" in case of a fire, said chief architect H Patterson Fletcher. "At the end (every few) rows, there is a portal, an exit."
Why not add more seats? The optimum size for a multipurpose hall is 2,200 seats, Fletcher said. "It's perfect the way it is."
The project team, including construction manager Creative Contractors Inc., had only five months to complete the job, a tight deadline. And the undertaking was somewhat risky.
"What happens if you dig the hole and you see something you don't want to see?" said Poppens.
Fletcher said he agreed with a friend who likened renovating a performing arts hall, with its hundreds of wire conduits, to "building a nuclear power plant."
Alan Bomstein, owner/president of Creative Contractors, said it may have been his company's "most difficult project ever."
The engineering challenges in trying to improve the Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired building were daunting.
"The original building was built on a natural slope," said Bomstein. "The land sloped from the south to the north. It was a downhill grade. The rake of the seats followed the slope. The back wall was higher by some 18 or 19 feet than the depth we were going to dig. This is not something we handle every week.
"If the back wall went down, the roof would come down," he said.
The job became so intense that the project superintendent was sometimes at the hall at 3 a.m. tackling a new conundrum.
The Grand Concourse linking the two lobbies, dug 30 feet into the ground under the main seating area, proved to be the most difficult endeavor.
"We were all just praying the building didn't come down," said Freedman.
The biggest challenge, Bomstein said, was not cutting through the walls - it was removing the byproduct of the digging: 10,500 cubic yards of dirt.
"We had to get it out through an opening 6 feet, 10 inches high," he said. "We were using Bobcats (small earth movers). We drove the Bobcats through the lobby. Some of them, we had to cut off the top part of the cages."
"It was kind of like mining with teaspoons," he said.
This was new territory to Creative Contractors, which budgeted 19 days to get the dirt out, but got it out in 16 days.
The Grand Concourse isn't ready. The theater hopes to open it in January. And in December, officials expect to open the Dimmitt Family Atrium Lounge, a room that looks over an old oak tree, to serve as a space for meetings and other events.
As long as nine months ago, officials realized the project would not be finished by the fall.
"The focus was on getting the auditorium opened," Poppens said. "What we always said is that the final product (would be finished) by spring 2004."
Ruth Eckerd Hall's original design was inspired by Wright. The architect's great-granddaughter Melissa Galt was the design consultant on the renovation project.
"You definitely see (Wright's) influence in the exterior geometry and also in the layout (of the hall)," said Galt, owner of an Atlanta design firm called Linea Interior Design. "We wanted to make it one organic form. It needs to spring from the earth."
The Ruth Eckerd Hall improvements cost $28-million. Phase one involved construction of the Marcia P. Hoffman Performing Arts Institute, which was finished Feb. 2 after two years of work.
So far, $24-million of the $28-million total has been raised, mainly through private and corporate donations. Poppens isn't worried about raising the remaining $4-million.
"There is a lot of generosity in this community," he said.
Among the improvements: