Hippodrome renovation set for $600,000 boost
LINDY KEAST RODMAN/TIMES-DISPATCH
The restored Hippodrome Theater could reopen in 2011 as a live-music venue and theater on North Second Street in Jackson Ward.
The long-awaited revival of the Hippodrome Theater in Richmond’s Jackson Ward neighborhood could begin soon, with a $600,000 boost from Richmond taxpayers.
The historic theater and adjoining Taylor Mansion on North Second Street—once the center of African-American nightlife and entertainment in segregated Rich mond—would open by April 2011 as a live-music venue and theater known as The Hipp, according to a proposal submitted to the City Council.
The $12 million restoration project has been approved by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources and would also provide residential and retail space, a restaurant and audio-video production facilities.
Though it was not clear last week who would operate the venue, Mayor Dwight C. Jones has proposed a development agreement that would provide $600,000 over two years to the property owner and developer, Hippodrome-Taylor Mansion LLC.
Jackson Ward developer Ronald Stallings, with Hippodrome-Taylor Mansion, did not respond to several messages. City administration officials also would not discuss the project, but Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Peter H. Chapman emphasized its importance in a memo to council members.
“The Jackson Ward community is rich in African-American history and material culture and is strategically located as an economic gateway in downtown Richmond,“ he said. “The Hippodrome Theater is a significant icon in that African-American cultural and economic heritage.“
City officials have been talking with Stallings for years about reviving the Hippodrome, which was built in 1904 and rebuilt after a fire in 1945. James Brown, Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles and other black entertainers graced the stage during the theater’s heyday in segregated Richmond.
The Taylor Mansion was designed by architect John Lankford and built in 1907 for the Rev. W.L. Taylor, a leader of the United Order of True Reformers. The home was credited at the time with being the largest home of a black American in the United States, and it later became an Elks lodge.
In 2004, the council committed $800,000 to a plan that called for converting the theater and Taylor Mansion into a live-music venue and production facility similar to the Apollo Theater in New York’s Harlem. That deal never materialized, but last year the council set aside $300,000 in fiscal 2009-10 and $300,000 in fiscal 2010-11 for the Hippodrome project, described at the time as a blues club similar to ones named after guitarist B.B. King.
Councilman Charles R. Samuels, whose 2nd District includes part of Jackson Ward, said he’s unfamiliar with the current plan but is tentatively supportive. “It really could serve as a base or anchor for pulling development from Broad” Street.
The proposed agreement calls for the city grant to be released in installments through 2010 as the project meets construction milestones. A certificate of occupancy would be required by March 30, 2011. The city would be entitled to a reimbursement if the project isn’t finished by Sept. 1, 2011.
In addition to the city funding, the project would be financed with $2.8 million in state and federal tax credits, $4.7 million from investors and $3.8 million in debt financing, according to Chapman’s memo.
The project is expected to generate 42 full-time and 40 part-time jobs, and $300,000 annually in real estate and business taxes once it’s fully operating. The council could vote on the agreement as early as Nov. 23. It’s requested for the council’s consent agenda, meaning it could be approved with little or no discussion.
Contact Will Jones at (804) 649-6911 or
.
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Reader Reactions
Max Fisher, 6th sreet failed for one reason, Its in an area that middle class suburbanite people don’t feel safe visiting on a daily basis.
The Hippodrome suffers the same underlying problem.
Why throw the money away?
people people Richmond needs a lot of work, we need to keep moving forward, we have a little ways to go, every little bit helps, we can’t stand still. We are investing $600,000 on a $12M project, stop the hating. Just because 6th Street failed shall we doing nothing ever again.
Everybody is always talking about young black thugs, if there are no jobs there are no options. I live in Northside I see it everyday. We need to build this city up one step at a time but we need to keep moving forward!No standing still!
“(I’ll concede, maybe, maybe not).“
How about MOST LIKLEY NOT. Your speculations are the same ol’ bull we have heard for before.
How about we consider Stallings’ involvement in the Broad Street CDA?
FanTastic: read again but comprehend this time:
“There is a laundry list of them starting with the failed Sixth Street Marketpalce and ending with projections for the Shockoe Centre Ballpark fiasco…“
“starting with” means far back (say 30 years) and “ending with” implies a CURRENT project that yes, couldn’t even get off the ground because the numbers were successfully challenged.
You should be embarrased by your post. And again you’ve evaded the question: why won’t private investors fund it all if it’s such a sure thing?
Well?
ptaylor
Wrong. The 5% I quoted is the “market” interest rate. It is the rate of return that a cash investment could get anywhere in the market. It represents an opportunity cost. The 5% is used for time value of money calculations to discount the value of future cash flows to present value lump sums.
An example: Would you rather have $900 today or $1000 in five years. A logical person would take the $900 today because it can be invested and reach a value above 1000 in less than five years. Therefore a future cash flow of $1000 is worth less than $1000 today.
Let’s say the city does get the $300K/year return (I’ll concede, maybe, maybe not). In ten years that would be cash flow of $3M at various future values. In order to discount those cash flows to present value (what they would be worth RIGHT NOW), we must select a representative market rate (we’ll use 5%) and discount the money by the number of periods (in this case years) at the chosen interest rate.
If you have excel type “=PV(.05,10,300000,,) which is a 5% market rate over ten periods at 300K per payment of a regular annuity. The result will be $2.317M.
The city paid 600K for something worth millions and you people are LIVID about it. If they had saved that money and spent it on bus routs and the developer pulled out, they would get about two months worth of one or two extra routs and miss out on a perpetual revenue generator. They would then probably keep the routs open and lose even more money.
YOU HAVE TO PLAN FOR THE FUTURE.
Those are great examples citycynic…
Sixth Street Market and the Shockoe Ballpark…
One of your examples is from 30 years ago and the other never even happened. Do you have any current examples or examples from actual real life?
Harpoon - I read Dick racy’s post twice and saw no mention of black or white. Could it be that you have a few stereotypes that need addressing?
FanTastic: What have we learned? Are you joking?
We’ve learned that every time the city wants to dump money into some flavor of the month venture, they throw out revenue projctions that don’t materialize. There is a laundry list of them starting with the failed Sixth Street Marketpalce and ending with projections for the Shockoe Centre Ballpark fiasco that didn’t hold up to scrutiny.
Scott Burger and others are right - whether it’s a penny or $600K -taxpayer money can and should be better spent. And not one person who has posted in favor of this latest waste has answered the question that’s been asked over and over - if this is such a sure thing, why don’t private investors step up and fund it all?
We’re waiting.
So Dick Tracy , Do you think the area is perceived as bad because of the large population of black people roaming around?
I repeat:I find nothing wrong with doing
up 2nd street and the trashed building formerly known as the Hippodrome
but it is not worth 12 mil and not one dime of taxpayer dollars. This in an area literally surrounded by the
aimless malingerer and crime ridden project and empty real estate both on Broad and in the Ward.
Private investors should fix up
those hulks and hope for the best—but not taxpayers. Private investors are losing money by the minute from the real estate fever that struck the City
over the past several years. Don’t equate the excitement of Second Street Festival and the Folk Festival with the day to day of the area . I work near 2nd street—There isn’t any big money traffic there. There were two bad car accidents in the area today and plenty of unemployed men walking around…Some pretty buildings and a concert now and then isn’t going to change a thing—but any improvement in the area will be a blessing—visually but don’t look for some big pay off. Trust me—there won’t be. It is not that there aren’t plenty of great ideas in the City—Indeed, the M&R condos are beautiful—but no one is in them. The Maggie Walker House museum is marvelous—but the traffic is a trickle. The Va St Library gift shop (one of the best in the State) closed the traffic was so slow. Have your concerts—have your fun—but You pay it—and you take the loss.
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