Zelie theater work nears completion
Strand slated to open soon
| ZELIENOPLE — The end is in
sight for Ron Carter. He's spent the last seven years fighting to restore the historic Strand Theater at 119 N. Main St., and the project is now approaching a grand reopening. Those seven years have been filled with countless hours of fundraising, negotiating and planning for the theater that sat dormant for more than 20 years. Carter formed the nonprofit Strand Theater Initiative in 2001 and is finally seeing his dream come to fruition. The theater is still set to reopen sometime this fall as planned, though it might not be until November or December. He said the completion of the project is still more than 12 weeks in the future but that the opening he promised is on schedule. "We promised it would open in 2008," Carter said. "If it opens on Dec. 31, it will be one heck of a New Year's party here. But we're hoping it will be sooner than that." Construction crews arrived June 2 and got to work immediately. Carter said the original price tag of $1.2 million has not changed and that even though construction has been slow at times, he's pleased with the progress he sees. A 10-foot barricade of wood stood in front of the entrance to the theater Friday morning, blocking any view of progress or construction. That wall was gone by 11 a.m. as workers from Flynn Construction prepared to chop up the sidewalk on Main Street to renovate sewage and water pipes for the theater. |
A
model of the theater built by a member of the Strand Theater Initiative
board. Carter formed the initiative in 2001 and has been working the last
seven years on renovations. The theater is due to reopen by year end. |
| Carter said the fun and
interesting part of the construction process has begun as he and his staff
begin working on the interior design of the building. He spent Friday morning talking with several volunteers about the brick that will be used for the outside of the building. The new theater will fill the same space as the old one, which was built in 1914 and shared space with Sapienza's Fruit Market. The theater featured silent films and vaudeville performances. The building was upgraded in 1939 with the addition of a large marquee, but has sat vacant since 1984. It has since survived two decades of attempts to tear it down. Carter said the new theater will contain the original ticket booth, vintage movie projectors from the 1930s and even floorboards from the old building that will be used to build the new stage. The project isn't an historic restoration but Carter wants to include as many original pieces as he can. The theater will seat more than 400 people after the final stages of the project are finished. Carter said residents of Zelienople have been abuzz lately with talk of the historic building's reopening. But it's not just Zelienople, he said, that will benefit from the grand reopening of one of the region's oldest cultural centers. "We're very excited here for the opening, not just for us but for the community," he said. "It's going to be for everyone, but especially for people in places like Evans City or Cranberry who haven't ever experienced a Main Street theater in their lives, and they'll have one now." |
Ron
Carter walks along the newly poured footers inside the Strand Theater in
Zelienople. |