Tag Archives: amphitheater

Amphitheater out to bid this month

The 1,000-seat amphitheater planned for the former Hamilton Laundry site is expected to go out for construction bids by the end of this month and break ground by October, City Engineer James Housten told the Redevelompent Agency at its meeting last week.

To date, soil investigation has been completed and remediation plans have been approved while oil tanks have been removed and monitoring wells set up, he said. Remediation will take place on site and construction will begin immediately after that, he added.

Amphitheater groundbreaking expected in fall

City Council last month authorized bid specifications for construction of the Hamilton Street amphitheater. The project is expected to break ground in September.

Continue reading Amphitheater groundbreaking expected in fall

Agency acquires another Hamilton Street home

The Redevelopment Agency earlier this month approved the purchase of another Hamilton Street home as part of projects within the Arts District.

Continue reading Agency acquires another Hamilton Street home

Marketing firm to oversee arts district development

The Redevelopment Agency last week approved a one-year, $75,000 contract with Ryno Marketing Group to assist in redevelopment of the Arts District.

Continue reading Marketing firm to oversee arts district development

Final approval for amphitheater funding Monday

The City Council is scheduled to vote next Monday night to borrow $8.5 million for three projects planned within the city’s Arts District. A public hearing is scheduled during the council’s regular meeting, which begins at 7:30 p.m. (Click on the image above to enlarge to full screen.)

The ordinance would cover the cost of construction of the 1,000-seat amphitheater; renovation of the Bell Building for a 200-seat black box theater; acquisition of the Elizabethtown Gas building, and acquisition of related arts equipment. The city already has bonded about $3 million for earlier site work and acquisitions, including $2 million to purchase the former Hamilton Laundry building for the amphitheater. The gas building is eyed for a co-operative gallery space, and an adjacent property for artist housing. “It will add a true presence of artists living and working in town,” said Mayor James Kennedy.

The Hamilton Street arts projects aim to become self-sustaining, between naming rights and fee- and non-fee based programming, to pay off the debt, according to City Administrator and Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier. They will feature a different type and level of programming than the Union County Performing Arts Center (UCPAC), the mayor said.

One of the four 2-1/2 story homes between the Bell Building and former Hamilton Laundry site is scheduled to be demolished this spring. Ultimately, the four remaining homes will be acquired and razed to provide more parking for the area, according to Kennedy, ideally within two years.

The site is ideally tailored by the river for an amphitheater, according to Michael Farewell of Princeton-based Farewell Mills Gatsch Architects. “It’s hard to find a better site for an amphitheater,” he said during a presentation to the Redevelopment Agency last month. The project will include stabilizing the bank in the natural curve of the river. The structure, he said, must be designed to withstand floods as well as being exposed to the elements while the lower area of the amphitheater will have removable seating. The only part of the site not within the flood plain is the Bell Building itself, according to City Engineer James Housten

Housten said remediation should take place over the next four to six months. The city, he added, already has a $500,000 state grant for investigation and remediation will be done through the state Brownfield Development Area funding.

If the UCPAC is ever going to be successful, the city must be able to accommodate 800 to 1,000 people with a 400- to 500-space parking deck closer to the arts center, the mayor said. The city is looking at two potential sites for a parking structure: the corner of Elizabeth Avenue and Main Street and the Cambridge Court Apartments on Main Street.

Also at Monday’s meeting, the council is scheduled to give final approval on an ordinance that would shift management of the Special Improvement District from the Rahway Center Partnership to the Arts District board.

City purchases $90k piano for conservatory

The City Council on Monday night approved $90,000 for the purchase of a handmade Italian piano as part of the plan to establish the Klavierhause Piano Conservatory. The council entered into a contract with Piano Culture Institutional Consultants at Klavierhaus “for the purchase of a Fazioli Pianoforti F-228 (photo below) to enhance the Arts District Expansion Project.”

The piano retails for $140,000, according to City Administrator and Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier, but the city will pay $90,000, with “another source outside of the municipal tax base” that will contribute $5,000. The piano will be on loan to the Union County Performing Arts Center (UCPAC) and can be moved for performances at the planned amphitheater as well as the arts center.

The bank building adjacent to UCPAC (on the corner of Coach Street) will be retrofitted to house the Klavierhaus Piano Conservatory, which will offer a variety of recitals, lessons, performances and more “with special emphasis given to young people.” The Edge art gallery nearby is being eyed for a satellite sales office for Klavier, where it could feature console pianos, according to Mayor James Kennedy.

A world-class piano brings an interesting component of a respectable art form, Kennedy said, and it shows that city is serious about the arts, especially to funders like the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

The piano will attract internationally renowned pianists that have chosen Fazioli pianos in concert halls, conservatories, theaters and recording studios to perform and record their performances for the public to attend, according to Pelissier. “This is one component that will be a tremendous asset for the UCPAC to provide for and make Rahway a distinct destination of the arts,” he said.

A ceremony to celebrate the piano’s arrival will be Sunday, Feb. 21, at 4 p.m. at the UPCAC Studio Theatre, featuring Russian-born pianist Vassily Primakov.

Asked how a $90,000 purchase for a piano could be justified as property taxes rise, Pelissier described it as an investment in the arts district and the city’s overall redevelopment plans, not unlike the county’s $6-million purchase and renovation of UCPAC, construction of the library and recreation center, and renovation of Train Station Plaza.

“Municipalities that have concert halls have testified that the monies that come in to their respective towns and cities are in the millions resulting from parking fees, spending in restaurants, etc.,” Pelissier said. “In as much, as redevelopment has slowed down with the exception of a few projects, the arts initiatives set forth by the mayor will not only attract people to Rahway, it will continue to attract redevelopers to our city when the economic market returns. Our city will be ready.”

Plans for Hamilton Street arts projects to be presented to City Council Monday night

The City Council will get a presentation Monday night on the plans for the Hamilton Street arts projects. A similar presentation was made to the Redevelopment Agency at its meeting tonight.

The governing body is scheduled to introduce an $8.5-million bond ordinance Monday for construction of an amphitheater at the former Hamilton Laundry site (photo, right), and renovation of the former Bell Telephone Building into a dance studio and black box theater. The ordinance also would cover funding for the future acquisition of the Elizabethtown Gas building at the corner of Hamilton Street and Central Avenue, according to City Administrator and Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier.

The bond ordinance will supplement $3 million already borrowed for work related to the Hamilton Street projects. A follow-up presentation will take place during the public hearing and final adoption of the bond ordinance, scheduled for the City Council’s March 8 regular meeting. Pelissier said the design option that was selected was the most expensive, but meetings with the Rahway Arts District board will continue and alternatives can be considered. “We need to take a look and see that we need what was requested,” he said.

The amphitheater will seat between 1,000 and 1,300, and the black box theater about 22o. The plan is to go out to bid this summer and award contracts by September. Construction would begin in October and last about nine months, allowing for operation by sometime in summer 2011.

Contract awarded for razing Hamilton St. home

The City Council awarded a demolition contract for the Hamilton Street house that will be razed as part of the amphitheater project.

The contract, awarded at the Jan. 11 meeting, went to the lowest responsible bidder, Frank Lurch Demolition Co. of Avon By the Sea, for $34,999. The two-story, multi-family home was acquired by the Redevelopment Agency for $340,000, closing in March.

Architects are scheduled to present the final draft of plans this week to the Rahway Arts District advisory board. Discussion will include costs associated with amphitheater construction and design of the black box theater, slated for the former Bell Building, according to City Administrator and Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier.

FULL DISCLOSURE: Mayor James Kennedy appointed me to a three-year term as an honorary member of the Rahway Arts District Board of Trustees. Honorary members do not vote and do not have the same obligations as other board members, and all are unpaid. I expect to attend meetings whenever possible as a means to keep the community informed.