ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, September 25, 1996 TAG: 9609250044
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: PULASKI
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
The Pulaski Theatre building has a new lease on life.
An organization called the Friends of the Pulaski Theatre, established two years ago to preserve the former vaudeville and movie house in Pulaski's downtown historic district, seemed on the verge of giving up.
Instead, the group has reorganized and been reinforced by a new group of local business leaders who are about to launch a fund-raising drive to restore the building as a cultural arts center. It will also put a new roof on the theater, which should stabilize it and prevent further weather damage inside.
Randy Eley, the new president of the group, said it has hired the professional fund-raising firm of Cargill and Associates to start work next month. Cargill is the same firm that handled a fund-raising venture for the well-known Barter Theatre in Abingdon, which has been expanded, modernized and renovated.
Ben Bolt is the new Friends vice president, and new executive board members include Chris Dux, Hiawatha Nicely, Dan Bell, David Wine, Robert Henderson and Michael Dowell. Barry Matherly, Pulaski's economic development director, and architect Tom Douthat will serve as ex-officio members.
The theater building belongs to Pulaski County. It was given to the county when it closed as a movie theater several years ago.
The county Board of Supervisors had approved having the Friends group act as its agent in raising money, seeking grants and making plans to restore the building. But there was a time limit on that designation, if no work was under way within those two years, and the deadline had arrived.
The Friends organization had tried to hand off the project to the town of Pulaski's Economic Development Department, but that agency was unable to take on that responsibility because of other, more pressing projects. Matherly reported to the agency's board that he understood another organization might be interested in taking on the project.
But instead of forming another agency, the newcomers reinvigorated the existing Friends group. Eley reported its progress Monday night to the Board of Supervisors, and secured a one-year extension on the Friends continuing to act as the county's agent with the theater.
The motion to grant the extension was made by Dr. Bruce Fariss who, at one time, had suggested demolishing the building to provide more downtown parking space. Fariss also made the motion allowing the Friends to put a new roof on the building.
Eley said it would have cost the county $50,000 to demolish the building, anyway, to prevent damage to neighboring structures. Such a step would also have to be approved by the town's Architectural Review Board, because it lies in Pulaski's historic district, and that process would take at least a year.
The fund-raising campaign is expected to last about six months, with contributors pledging over a three-year period. The restoration project will be divided into phases. Until the funding campaign is complete, there is no way to know how many phases can be carried out in the coming year.
The cost of the private fund-raising consultant is $11,000 and material and labor for the roof, about $35,000. The Friends group already has some money on hand, with both the county and town having provided some funding.
"We were able in one session to make these decisions," Eley said. "And you're not talking about a group of men who go into such things lightly. ... When this will be done depends on the response of the community."
LENGTH: Medium: 64 linesby CNB