$46M Holyoke Victory Theater project moves forward with planned demolition of neighboring building – MassLive.com

HOLYOKE The $46 million Victory Theater renovation project will commence in the coming months with the demolition of a former funeral home next door at 134 Chestnut St.

The theaters owners plan to build an annex on the land to support operations and future productions.

The Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts (MIFA) bought the century-old theater and city-owned property at 81-98 Suffolk St. for $1,500 in 2009. The organization acquired the Chestnut Street property in December 2019 after a three-year process.

MIFA has secured $31 million for construction, including $18 million in New Market Tax Credits and $13 million in state funding approved by the Baker administration.

Donald Sanders, MIFAs artistic director, said the annex will connect to the Victory Theater at the basement and second floor. The new building will contain additional dressing rooms, service spaces and offices.

Its going to be done in an extraordinary style that will echo the Victory itself, he said.

The annex lets the theater maintain its architectural integrity without risking the historic tax credits and other future funding.

We dont want to comprise the Victory itself, Sanders said.

The annex will free up space inside the Victory and allow for large-scale productions. A loading dock will give production trailers room to maneuver and unload sets and other equipment. Plans also include four bar-refreshments centers in the theater.

While COVID-19 has caused some delays, Sanders said MIFA continues to close the gap on the $15 million needed for the second construction phase. We hope it will be within the year, he said.

Sanders added that around $7 million in soft costs include legal fees, operations, design work, and contingency fees or project overruns. The hard construction costs for the actual build hover around $32.5 million. Despite the pandemic and economic downturn, Sander said he expects construction costs to remain stable.

MIFA plans to set aside $3 million in a sustainability fund for the Victorys first five years of operation.

My confidence for this project has always been at full-throttle, Sander said. I said I was going to get this open, and Im going to. Going from zero to $31 million shows that its going to happen.

He views the Victory Theater project as part of the regions recovery from the pandemic.

People will want a place to go to, he said. As it is now, Broadway is not scheduled to reopen until next fall. Theres going to be an absolute human desire to gather and be together.

This former funeral home at 134 Chestnut St. in Holyoke will be demolished as part of renovations at the Victory Theater next door. (Dennis Hohenberger photo)

The Holyoke Planning Board and Historical Commission have signed off on the funeral home demolition, according to Sanders.

MIFA hired DBVW as the architect and Milone & MacBroom as the project engineer, with Barr & Barr of Natick leading the construction effort. DBVW recently won an award for its work on the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island.

Built in 1920, the 1,600-seat Victory Theater was the citys premier entertainment venue for generations. Facing competition from multiplex cinemas, it closed in 1979.

Over the decades, the theaters interior deteriorated, mostly caused by water seeping through the roof.

The Planning Board has approved an 80-square-foot static marquee at the theaters entrance, along with fencing to hide mechanicals and a dumpster.

In 2019, the Holyoke Community Preservation Act Commission awarded MIFA $100,000 to restore the light sconces that illuminated the Victorys interior.

MIFA commissioned Vitek Kruta, an artist and owner of Gateway City Arts, to restore the Victorys canvas murals. Kruta painstakingly removed the canvases and placed them in storage. The murals are mostly classical motifs, including a painting of Venus discovered under a silk tapestry.

Artist Vincent Maragliotta painted the murals at the height of the Great Depression. He worked from a studio in Grand Central Station in New York City and painted decorative art for the Waldorf Astoria hotel and the Pennsylvania Statehouse.

This animation shows the current appearance of Holyoke's Victory Theater and a former funeral home next door, and an artist's rendering of how the properties will look after renovation.

Read more:
$46M Holyoke Victory Theater project moves forward with planned demolition of neighboring building - MassLive.com