Linda Harris
DONATION — The Grand Theater Restoration Project has received a $25,000 grant from the Pugliese Charitable Trust. On hand for the presentation were, from left, Scott Dressel, president and lead volunteer for the project, and Pugliese Trustees H. Lee Kinney and Tom Timmons.
STEUBENVILLE — Scott Dressel’s vision for the Grand Theater downtown is moving closer to fruition.
On Thursday, Dressel, president and lead volunteer for the Steubenville Historic Landmarks Foundation/Grand Theater Restoration Project, accepted a $25,000 donation from the Pugliese Foundation.
The money will help pay for work that was done on the facade roof after a piece fell several months ago, along with some of the architectural work being done to keep the project moving forward, Dressel said.
“I’m very appreciative because I didn’t know where the money was going to come from,” he said. “The timing was perfect — we’re moving forward. All of this together will get the work done, we’re getting closer.”
Pugliese Foundation Charter Trustee H. Lee Kinney said they were pleased to be part of the theater project.
“When I go to these things I always think of Mr. and Mrs. Pugliese, how wonderful (it is),” Kinney said. “They worked so hard and saved a lot of money, and I think they would both be very happy with what’s happening today.”
Kinney said the foundation has given away more than $10 million, “and we still have more than what Mr. Pugliese gave us, so the foundation has done well.”
“I’m just so happy to participate in a project like this and hope you get it done,” he told Dressel. “It just takes so much money.”
“And perseverance,” Dressel replied.
“Yeah, somebody has to stick with it,” Kinney agreed.
Trustee Tom Timmons said it’s “nice that we could help with the revitalization of the downtown area.”
Dressel said the theater also has funding from two other grants in the pipeline: $800,000 from the National Park Service that, once all the paperwork is done, will be enough to restore about two-thirds of the plaster in the theater, and another $300,000 through a capital bill grant from the state for an emergency exit tower on the north side of the building.
“We’ll still need (an emergency exit) on the (other) side,” Dressel said, “but then we’ll actually have an emergency exit out the back door, so, hopefully, we can use the (building) now and then.”
He said there’s a lot of work still to do: Rebuilding the historic organ is nearly done, “what we have left is connecting the console by wire to all the things that need fixed.”
They also have to redo the lighting, projection and sound; fly loft above the stage; the elevator; a second emergency exit tower; a building to house new dressing rooms, and make at least some of them handicap accessible; and fire suppression systems, in addition to the plasterwork the park service is paying for.
Given the way prices have jumped during the past couple of years, Dressel figures they’re looking at somewhere between $6 million and $7 million for the full restoration. He said they’re about $1.5 million into the restoration right now, and the grant funds will push the total to around $2.3 million.
He’s applying for two other grants, including an Appalachian Community Development grant.
“We have a consultant working on how to put the Grand Theater’s request into one of those big bundles they’re creating,” he said. “Two of them are working on it, so it should happen. There are a number of theater projects in the state, I think seven or eight, looking for funding. The (Appalachian Community Development grant) could technically get us the rest of the funding — which means if we got everything, in about two years we should be open, if we can get a contractor who can stay on the job and get it done. So we’re getting closer, and we have some other grants we’ve applied for as well. We’re chipping away at it.”
He’s also applied for another major grant and said the theater’s chances for funding are “looking good” so far.
He told Kinney and Timmons if all the funding they need were to fall in their lap, he figures the project could be done in about two years–and if they started now, they could be done around 2025, just around the time of the theater’s 100th anniversary.
“It would be nice, wouldn’t it?” he said. “The 100th anniversary and here we are back again.”
Dressel said the Pugliese Foundation grant for the facade roof met an urgent need.
“Luckily, (the Pugliese Foundation award) came just in time. And the two other grants we’re getting are big and will help — the other two I’m working on are even bigger. Hopefully, it will all come together and we’ll get it funded, then it’s just a question of finding the contractors to do it.”
He admits he’s excited.
“We’re going to take a huge leap forward in the next eight or 10 months, and if we get the other grant I’m working on it would be even more of a leap,” he said. “It’s getting to the point where I can almost see the potential end of it.”
He said the projects remaining on the theater to-do list are all “big number stuff, a half-million dollars and up.”
“If we could get Appalachian grant money from the state, it would be huge,” he said, “and it will have a huge impact on Steubenville. In one year it would pay for itself, and that’s with minimal activity — just two or three events a month. Everywhere these theaters open, they drive all kinds of business to restaurants and the retail downtown. Plus, we have a 700-seat ballroom in front where we could have small conventions and other events.”
