Macon City Auditorium goes dark for months as renovation begins

MACON, Ga. — For the initially time considering the fact that the late 70s, the Town Auditorium is becoming renovated.

Even though the county initially planned to shell out $10 million of 2018 SPLOST proceeds, the final estimate is not nonetheless acknowledged owing to the rise in the expense of making resources and design modifications to rein in expenses. The initially style and design was a lot more than 2.5 occasions the prepared price range.

Sheridan Building is overseeing the venture in partnership with the Smallwood design and style firm out of Atlanta.

The auditorium’s calendar is obvious right up until early September to let building in June, July and August.

“We have a crushed agenda. We’re going to be doing the job 24/7,” claimed Tom Rogers, Sheridan’s senior venture manager.

They halted auditorium bookings so perform can be finished on the key floor and basement concessions foyer in the first of two phases of construction with the second 50 % finishing future yr, with any luck , in time to celebrate Macon’s bicentennial.

This 7 days, crews protected the auditorium ground and began erecting a industry of scaffolding that will keep a elevated platform at the major of the proscenium so employees can rework the ceiling over the balcony.

“We are eradicating the ceiling which is there and just heading back to what it was originally… black metal,” reported Clay Murphey, the SPLOST coordinator for Macon-Bibb County.

In 1977, the Sheridan workforce embarked on a 20-month, $2.2 million dollar job to assist harmony the acoustical concerns designed by the “largest copper dome in the planet.”

Ribs of sheetrock and panels of acoustical carpet ended up added together with spaceship-like tiles in the vicinity of the stage.

Having said that, that deal with from about 45 a long time in the past made a different issue – extra moisture.

“The making is not able to breathe the way it is,” Murphey stated. “You can see all the mildew.”

Most patrons of the auditorium stop by through dimly lit functions, but the hurt is pretty obvious when all the lights are on.

In the past pair of yrs, a lot more than a million dollars was invested to water-resistant and renovate the basement and fix the roof, which had 51 bullet holes in the famed copper dome.

In the $6.9 million Period 1 of the task, a structural steel community will be erected from the ceiling for a new catwalk and lighting program.

Crews are hermetically sealing the historic mural over the phase to guard it from dust and harm.

There will be new paint, flooring, carpet, and wallpaper with new drapes and seat handles predicted future year.

“We’re pretty much touching every little thing the community sees,” Murphey mentioned of the latest renovation. “The frequent location the men and women will see will be considerably different.”

Downstairs, crews will demolish the existing concessions stand and restrooms and create new kinds during this initial period.

Smallwood at first made a glass atrium and important restructuring of the lobby, but the supplies ended up way also pricey for the funds, and not every person embraced the much more modern-day idea on the century-previous developing.

In Section 2 next yr, crews are predicted to make octagon-shaped additions on just about every conclude of the First Street facet to dwelling initial flooring loos and a new ticket region.

The further year gives contractors time to uncover a match for the limestone employed to develop the auditorium to use on the new additions.

“I consider we’re going to finish up likely with anything that seems like limestone,” Murphey claimed. “I’d be astonished if we can quarry limestone at a value that is fair.”

Rogers explained he’s searching ahead to transforming the auditorium.

“It’s an fascinating task mainly because the auditorium is this kind of a historic setting up and it indicates so considerably to so quite a few people today who have produced reminiscences there,” Rogers reported.

Previous fall, the international location development company Oak Watch Team, or OVG, acquired Spectra Location Administration, the manager of the auditorium, coliseum, convention centre and Macon-Bibb’s new amphitheater prepared at Macon Mall.

Peyton Jeter, the marketing and advertising director for OVG’s nearby office environment, said the operate on the auditorium coincides with upgrading the Macon Coliseum.

A new video clip scoreboard was put in in the final 12 months and the facility will have an upgraded hearth alarm basic safety procedure, which is believed to price nearly $500,000.

Crews also are setting up a new $1.3 million ice flooring system.

“That serves the Mayhem truly nicely, Disney on Ice and public skating,” Jeter said even though touring the auditorium Tuesday.

The auditorium renovation also will contact the oval-formed environmentally friendly home that has hosted performers as a result of the many years. Contemporary phase enhancements for loading in machines must make it easier to reserve acts for the auditorium.

For the duration of this a few-month downtime, Jeter mentioned she will have sufficient time to start off promoting the county’s new amphitheater when bookings appear in for performances anticipated to start out following summer months.

OVG was the apparent choice to manage that new venue, reported Urban Growth Authority government director Alex Morrison at previous month’s assembly.

“When it arrived to needing help as we’re constructing, organizing for and eventually operating a new enjoyment venue, the amphitheater, it was logical and a good chance to operate with them again for that facility,” Morrison explained to the authority right before customers approved the management agreement.

OVG’s Regional Vice President Trent Merritt claimed the business understands the Macon current market and the challenges of working right after the worldwide pandemic shut down enterprise.

The Centreplex operation now has numerous venues to ebook functions and establish relationships with entertainers.

“You can provide artists in, performers who are up and coming, in smaller services and develop them into more substantial services,” Merritt mentioned. “Now with the amphitheater, it just puts a different crown jewel in the arsenal below.”

For Jeter, almost nothing beats the appeal of the previous auditorium.

“I just believe she’s so very,” she explained.

Civic Journalism Senior Fellow Liz Fabian covers Macon-Bibb County governing administration and can be achieved at [email protected] or 478-301-2976.

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