$200,000 grant helps The Colony

By Justin McIntosh, The Marietta Times, April 8-9, 2006

Renovation will begin this year in the vacant Colony Theatre in downtown Marietta, thanks to a $200,000 grant announced Friday.

The grant from the Ohio Governor’s Office of Appalachia ends the renovation project’s first phase of fund-raising and will help the 1,200-seat theater be fully functional within a year after construction begins.

“Unfortunately, or fortunately, we’re not going to spend too much time celebrating,” said Hunt Brawley, the Colony’s development director.

“(Our board) is taking a leap of faith — we’re going to try to do this entire theater in a single construction cycle. ... That means we may have to bump the construction date back, but we could have a full Broadway-caliber theater sooner.”

The Colony Theatre, on Putnam Street, has been closed since the mid-1980s. But a community group is working to renovate the theater and use it for concerts, films and public events. The original vaudeville house was opened on May 18, 1911, according to Colony’s records. An expanded and renovated theater house was opened eight years later on May 9, 1919.

The $200,000 grant, which comes from a $9.5 million pool that’s distributed among 29 counties, brings the total amount of cash contributions up to $1.65 million. The goal for the first phase of fund-raising was $1.5 million.

Brawley called the end of the first phase a major milestone for the project. He emphasized the project will still need more money to open since the construction cost is expected to top $3.5 million.

That leaves about $2 million still be to be raised. Brawley said he’s hopeful at least $1 million will be available through state and federal historic tax credits. More public funds could be solicited, while private sources would likely make up any difference.

T.J. Justice, director of the Governor’s Office of Appalachia, said the Colony Theatre project caught his attention because of the local support behind it.

“The first thing that struck me was the incredible local support,” Justice said, referring to about $208,000 in private contributions that have been made to the project.

“We are looking for opportunities to re-energize our downtowns ... so hopefully we’re providing and creating opportunities for our youth and, in this case, for tourist attractions.”

Brawley said the Colony will provide about seven full-time jobs when it opens and numerous others when construction begins. In addition, Brawley believes the opening of the theater will spur a more vibrant downtown Marietta.

“With activities on the stage come activities on the street,” Brawley said.

Mike Jacoby, the area’s new economic development director with the Southeastern Ohio Port Authority, was also impressed, telling Brawley after Friday’s press conference to announce the grant that he was moved by the Colony’s efforts to date, because he knows how hard it is to raise money from private sources.

On Friday, the Colony had a benefit concert at the Lafayette Hotel.

But it was Friday’s press conference on the Colony’s stage that caught Bill Wesel’s interest.“This is the greatest production we’ve had so far,” said Wesel , vice president of the Colony’s board of directors.

Reprinted with permission