With a $2 million gift to restore the façade of the 100-year-old Empire Theatre, Neil November is helping to revitalize a stretch of Broad Street where his family set its roots in Richmond.
He said his father, Israel November, lived above a deli in one of the nearby blocks after moving from New York in 1924 and built the family's clothing manufacturing company, later known as Friedman-Marks Clothing Co.
"Quite a history here," he said at a news conference Tuesday as he and his wife, Sara Belle, accepted thanks from well-wishers for their philanthropic support. "We haven't been too far removed from here. It's kind of a complete circle."
Mayor Dwight C. Jones and officials with Theatre IV and Barksdale Theatre heralded the $2 million "legacy gift" as the largest made by an individual or couple to a Richmond-based nonprofit producing theater. Theatre IV and Barksdale are "sister" resident professional theater companies, sharing administrative and production support.
"Sara Belle and I are pleased to be part of Richmond's cultural renaissance," Neil November said.
The Empire, at 114 W. Broad St. in downtown, will be renamed as The Sara Belle and Neil November Theatre beginning in January. Other theaters named for Sara Belle November are at Westminster Canterbury of Richmond, the SPARC Center and the Weinstein Jewish Community Center.
At the Empire, the couple's gift is expected to fund the building façade restoration, as well as provide endowment support and kick off a capital fundraising campaign that's tentatively estimated at $12 million to $14 million.
Site improvements started in September and are scheduled to be finished by the end of this year.
The Empire's facelift is the latest investment in a stretch of Broad that is being revitalized with restaurants, apartments, galleries and the monthly First Fridays Art Walk. The area also is part of the proposed Historic Broad Street Arts District, which is aimed at spurring additional arts-related development and investment.
Jones said the restoration will return the theater's Neo-classical grandeur as reflected in an artist's rendering. The image "reminds us of the true jewel that the Empire has been and still is today," Jones said. "When I look at that and think of what I want Broad Street to look like, I think that we're well on our way."
The Empire opened Dec. 25, 1911, at a gateway into the Jackson Ward neighborhood, and it was Richmond's first theater to be built specifically to house racially mixed audiences. From the 1930s to the 1960s, the Empire was known as The Booker T., and Jones recalled visiting with "one of the few dates I had" while a student at Virginia Union University.
Phil Whiteway, managing director of Barksdale Theatre and Theatre IV, said the Novembers' gift will allow the theater to receive a long-planned second phase of improvements. A $2.3 million initial phase addressing life-safety issues was completed in 1990.
Sara Belle November, a former dinner-theater actress in the Philadelphia area, said she's thrilled to continue her support for the theater. She was an original and longtime member of the Barksdale and Theatre IV boards.
"I think it's very important for people to have activities that will relieve them of their financial worries," she said. "They can go to the theater."
It's also a gift that reflects the couple of 61 years.
"I snatched her off the stage and married her," Neil November said.
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