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WARREN -- Packard Music Hall is getting a lift from $700,000 in private and public funds to install an elevator.
The not-for-profit W.D. Packard Foundation received a $500,000 grant from the ACI Senior Development Corp., an independent foundation, to go with the $200,000 grant the city received last year from the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission. The OFCC money was earmarked specifically for an elevator, while the ACI grant is for projects beneficial to senior citizens.
"An elevator has been at the top of our list for a long time," Packard Foundation President Jim Fogarty said. "It will open the hall up for people who haven't been able to have that experience. We're all super pumped."
The music hall, built with money from a trust established by W.D. Packard before his death in 1923, opened in 1955, and the only wheelchair-accessible seating has been in the back row of the non-ramped seating on the floor. The only access to the balcony is by climbing two flights of stairs, and for some performances the balcony provides the best and least-obstructed seating options.
Fogarty credited Pat McLean, who was instrumental in getting handrails installed in the balcony, with alerting the foundation to the availability of the ACI grant. The money also will be used to make entrances and other aspects of the hall compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
"I have a friend who is affiliated with the Senior Development Corporation and we talked about the different options that would serve Trumbull County or Warren," McLean said. "The elevator is going to become a reality. It will give seniors the option to sit where they wish to sit. It's very limited where seniors can sit now. You can put ADA seating upstairs when you put in an elevator. It just gives them more options. And except for the JAC (Management-produced) shows, it's mostly the grey-haired in attendance."
Warren Mayor Doug Franklin said, "I think it's a great example of public and private funds coming together that's actually going to take Packard Music Hall to the next level as far as being an accessible, more viable venue for all of our citizens. We have the opportunity with this project and the other ADA amenities to increase usage and not exclude any segment of our population due to age or handicap, and that's very important."
The DLR Group / Westlake Reed Leskosky has been hired by the foundation as the project architects. Proposals were solicited from five firms. The DLR Group has been involved in projects at Playhouse Square in downtown Cleveland, Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls and a recent elevator project at the Struthers Library Theatre in Warren, Pa.
DLR also will draft conceptual drawings for possible future upgrades at the hall.
Estimated construction costs are $400,000 plus architecture fees and other expenses, Fogarty said. With $700,000 available, any unforseen costs should be absorbed and money left over would address other needs that fit the guidelines of the grants.
JAC Management currently is in year three of a possible five-year agreement with the city to operate the hall. Fogarty said JAC has been a part of the process from the beginning and the plan is to install the elevator with as little disruption to day-to-day operations as possible.
Jim Bugos, JAC's general manager at the hall, said, "Will there be some potential interferences with the schedule? Yes, maybe, but I don't think it's anything we can't work around. I don't think there will be anything detrimental to us being able to produce shows at the venue. And it will help the big picture, getting some accessible seats up in the balcony and really start to modernize the building. My hope would be this is the first of many projects down the road to make it more accessible and more modernized."
The biggest disruption could be to Bugos. Earlier plans for an elevator had it being installed in the north front corner of the building, where his office currently is located. But Fogarty said DLR is working on its drawings and the location hasn't been finalized.
The goal is to start work this summer and have the project completed by the fall of 2018, Fogarty said.
A public presentation is planned at 2:45 p.m. Sunday at Packard Music Hall before the W.D. Packard Concert Band performance at 3 p.m.
agray@tribtoday.com