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The efforts to restore the Crescent Theater have already resulted in $400,000 in support from the state and more than $50,000 in cash donations.
By CHASE SQUIRES
© St. Petersburg Times, published October 11, 2000
DADE CITY -- City commissioners offered a $15,000 boost to Crescent Theater restoration efforts Tuesday, but the big prize may be down the road as project backers asked the city to step up with $500,000 from a proposed bond issuance.
And while commissioners took what could be the first steps on that partnership, they washed their hands of another huge effort, finally shedding the downtown building design guideline controversy by handing the matter off to the Downtown Dade City Main Street group.
Bill Aycrigg, director of the Community Aging & Retirement Services organization shepherding the Crescent Theater project, showed the city board the latest plans. The proposal is a step beyond the original idea of restoring the old vaudeville-era theater to become a combined senior center and community theater.
The new concept calls for the addition of a separate building adjacent to the Crescent. While the restored original theater would house the CARES senior center, the attached new building would house a 500-seat theater, complete with a balcony, elevator and exhibition space.
The price has risen from about $675,000 when the idea came up two years ago to about $1.3-million, plus the donation of land estimated worth about $175,000.
Aycrigg said costs rose as supporters were able to meet with architects this summer and it became clear the best course was to add a theater rather than trying to incorporate it.
It's a big goal, he said, but he promised it would be worth it.
The state already has contributed $400,000, and the effort has gathered more than $50,000 in cash donations, plus land, but more is needed, he said.
The pitch he made to the city Tuesday asks for commissioners to include $500,000 in a capital improvement bond issuance the board is scheduled to discuss later this month.
"This is an important project," he said. "The Crescent Theater restoration will offer another reason for new residents and businesses to come to Dade City."
Barbara Friedman, who leads the Heritage Arts Foundation, said her organization has been saving for 17 years for a community arts headquarters, and after years of searching and exploring options, the Crescent Theater location is the most effective solution.
Commissioners agreed to contribute $15,000 from the recent sale of used city equipment to match donations to the theater, and Mayor Scott Black said the board would review the bond issuance suggestion and consider including the theater effort along with a host of other big-ticket projects.
In other business Tuesday, the board appeared to finally find a solution to the controversial building design guideline issue.
The board voted 4-1, with Bill Dennis opposed, to ask Main Street to come up with a package of voluntary guidelines that property owners could review. The guidelines would be for anyone who might want ideas on how to renovate old buildings or erect new ones while still keeping the feel of the downtown area.
Black and others on the board agreed that residents were clear in a meeting this spring. The city does not want mandatory guidelines, Black said.
It will be up to Main Street's leaders to decide if developing guidelines is a project they want to take on, Black said.