By Ashley Fletcher Frampton
aframpton@scbiznews.com
Published June 3, 2010

Charleston Mayor Joe Riley announced plans Wednesday for a $142 million overhaul of the Gaillard Municipal Auditorium that would dramatically change the outside and inside of the hulking 1960s building.

The plan would reduce seating from about 2,700 to 1,800, which Riley said would make the performance hall more intimate and improve acoustics. It also would update the auditorium’s exhibition hall and construct new city office buildings on the site.

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Dock Street’s $15.5 million update to be unveiled for Spoleto 2010

Riley has talked previously about the need to update and improve the facility, and he has said an anonymous donor has pledged $20 million for the project.

On Wednesday, he said that now is the time to move the project forward because construction costs are more than 20% less than they were three years ago.

“We have to seize the moment,” he said.

In a presentation to community members and the media, Riley revealed renderings of the renovated building, a cost estimate and funding sources the city has lined up for $71 million, or half of the cost.

The other $71 million will come from private donations, Riley said.

The city has a head start with the $20 million already in hand, he said, and expects to be able to raise the rest by August 2012, when construction is proposed to start.

The city’s portion of the funding comes from $30 million available in a tax increment financing district, future bond capacity that will be freed up as other projects are paid off, special federal tax credits, and hospitality and accommodations tax revenue.

Riley said the project would not require a tax increase or compete for operating dollars. He plans to present contracts to City Council this month for work that would move the design forward.

Read more about the plans.

Need for improvements
The Gaillard, at 2,700 seats, is too big for most performances, Riley said. Only two events staged there last year sold more than 1,800 tickets.

“So often it’s sparsely, relatively sparsely, occupied,” he said.

In addition to scaling back the performance hall and improving its sound and energy use, the exhibition hall would be improved. That space currently does not adapt easily to small events, Riley said, adding that redesigning it to accommodate smaller crowds could bring the city more revenue.

Along the George Street side of the building, offices would be added for city departments that are now renting space throughout the peninsula.

Riley said the city pays about $750,000 annually to rent those offices, and the money saved would go toward renovation costs.

“If we can move from rent to ownership, we all like that and are better off,” he said.

Preliminary plans, which were funded by an advance from the anonymous $20 million donation, call for the building to be extended toward George Street with a neoclassical facade.

“In the ’60s, the best thinking was you remove buildings, set them apart” from the street, Riley said.

But that thinking has changed, Riley said. Placing buildings close to the street works better in urban settings and is more in keeping with the architecture and design seen in other areas of the peninsula, he said.

The overhaul would bring in on-site food service, eliminating the need for trucks to load and unload on the surrounding streets.

Spoleto venue
Riley’s push to go forward with the renovation falls in the midst of Spoleto Festival USA, Charleston’s annual international performing arts festival.

The Gaillard is the site of multiple Spoleto performances. Riley and Spoleto officials have said the festival could not happen in Charleston without the large venue.

Its renovation would follow recent updates to the Dock Street Theater and Memminger Auditorium, other major festival venues.

Festival director Nigel Redden, who attended Riley’s presentation, said the overhaul would be revolutionary for the performing arts community.

“I just want to say that I think this is the most fabulous proposal,” he said.

Reach Ashley Fletcher Frampton at 843-849-3129.