More than a year after a plan to help fund it was approved, the historic Miller Theatre renovation is still waiting on consultants and their reports.
The theater's current owner is getting a little tired of trying to give it away.
Peter Knox, who's still paying insurance and utility bills, said he's eager to hand the building over to the Augusta Symphony.
"My offer was to just donate it to them. I offered to give it to them, and I've been patient in letting them do whatever homework they need to do to determine the scope of work. But I've been eager to get rid of it, basically give it away to a nonprofit," Knox said.
The multimillion-dollar renovation project is on hold until the symphony, which is working on a plan to bring the theater back to life, receives advice from its consultants, said Joe Huff, the president of the Augusta Symphony board. The symphony wants to transform the theater into a full-scale performing arts center.
"We're hoping by September to have some reports back that will let us know what we can really expect to do with the building and how much it would cost. Our board is investigating the feasibility of this project," Huff said.
The symphony has hired North Carolina-based Theatre Consultants Collaborative and an acoustician to assist with the project.
"The Miller was built as a grand facility as a movie theatre, and it did have a stage for some vaudeville-type acts," Huff said. "But it really was never a performing arts center. These folks are helping us look at what it would take to transform it into the type of facility that would accommodate the symphony and other arts groups."
The symphony would like a facility that could cater to a variety of arts groups, including ballet, theater, opera, musical performances and even traveling shows.
The Miller Theatre was built in 1940 and used through 1985. The building is made of structural steel and reinforced concrete, but the stage isn't very deep. The symphony is exploring ways to make the stage bigger, Huff said. Also, the acoustics for a movie theater are different from those required by arts groups. Acousticians would have to complete engineering to provide the acoustics needed.
Making the stage bigger would reduce the number of seats in the facility. As a movie theater, the Miller had 1,600 seats, but the number would drop to between 1,200 and 1,400, Huff said.
"It fits nicely between the seat count at the Imperial (Theatre) and the Bell (Auditorium)," he said.
In June 2009, a referendum was approved for joint Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax funds in the amount of $6 million for the Miller Theatre and Augusta Mini Theatre. The Miller will receive nearly $5.2 million, and the Augusta Mini Theatre would get the remaining funds, said Tim Schroer, the assistant finance director for the city of Augusta.
The Augusta Symphony is required to raise a matching portion of 25 percent to receive the funding. The organization has until 2015, he said.
The city will start collecting SPLOST funds in January 2011. Based on current collection amounts, Schroer estimates that $2.1 million will be available in 2013 and $3.9 million will be available in 2014.
If all funds are collected by 2015, the Augusta Symphony would have until the end of 2017 to spend the money, he said.
Since the SPLOST money became available, the symphony has formed a committee with Levi Hill IV as chairman to determine the vision for the Miller Theatre. While nearly $5.2 million is a significant amount of money, Huff expects the project will cost much more.
"We're interested to see how big a project it may be," he said.
"I think the project would be wonderful for Augusta. The whole concept of a downtown district as part of a larger project to rejuvenate downtown Augusta. I think it's one of the key components of that, and the Miller, you just can't build a building like this anymore. It's got a great amount of history and nostalgia associated with it."
None of the great history or nostalgia is related to use as a symphony hall. I wonder what percentage of Augustans will actually visit the joint when and if it is ever restored? I did see that the "stakeholders" in the property are giving advance warning that this little old money pit is a long way from a final cost. Maybe the folks need to remember an old saying, you can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear. BTW what is the difference between "spend the money" and "complete the project"? Does the former indicate that in reality the project will not be completed until way past 2017?
The Miller should be restored. However, the theatre was originally designed for over 1600 seats. Reducing the seating capacity to 1200 is a huge mistake. We need more seats, not less, in a venue to bring better acts to Augusta. Please Augusta - don't let anyone reduce the seating capacity of the Miller. New seats in the Miller will make the seating capacity 1500 - perfect for our community.
I thought I read in a previous article that the symphony had a study done on the Miller and concluded that the building was simply inappropriate to convert to their needs and it would be much more cost effective to build a custom facility; at the Miller, too much seating would have to be removed, too much acoustic work would need to be performed etc.
I say turn the place back into a movie theater, it could show more artsy flicks and independent films that normally would never get shown in Augusta. Or it could adopt the 'Cinebarre' concept (http://cinebarre.com/), movie theater and restaurant/bar combo...DINNER THEATER! Heck, somebody could even start the 'Augusta Independent Film Festival' or something. Just a thought.
just let it be a movie theatre. what could be better for downtown than something to do (besides get drunk)? i'm not sure begging people to support downtown like it's a charity alternating with pretending it's the hottest place to build (when they make us pay to build more boring stuff that no one will use) is cutting it. the next step might be something to do there. and let's not act like we're all into going to the symphony, ok, augusta?
The only flaw with your argument, JB, is that it will cost more to build a brand new symphony hall than it will to re-furbish the Miller. At the present time, poor ole Peter Knox is saddled with the symphony, and this article shows he will be paying insurance and patching the roof for a long time before they symphony raises enough money to begin remodeling.
jb1234 wrote, “Turn, turn, turn the place back into a movie theater. . . .”
mary dits wrote, “Let it be a movie theater. . . .”
Just turning and letting it be sounds great, but you're talking about someone else's money here.
I kind of agree with Mary on this. I would personally rather see it used as a movie theater, especially one specializing in Indie and Classic Films. A great model for this would be The AFI Silver Theater in Silver Springs, Maryland. It routinely hosts films festivals, and shows classic films that many people have never had the opportunity to see on a big movie screen. Another idea is a Cinema-Drafthouse concept. or what about something like The Georgia Theater in Athens (before it burned)... It still played movies like Rocky Horror, and Dawgs games on the big screen and also hosted concerts.
Peter Knox seems like a smart guy. Did he not think of all of this before he purchased the building? Did he not get some sort of estimate before hand of what it would cost to restore the building? Did he have any plan at all of what to do with the building? That "It's Time" sign on the marquis... that has been there for YEARS and YEARS seems like a cruel joke now.
Agree that symphony will have very limited appeal. It's a shame that it can't be used for movies and the symphony. Surely there's a way. The more potential uses, the greater the probability of success.
The Miller as a downtown movie theater is a great idea. It's not the type of venue the Symphony is seeking for their home.
I saw Gone With the Wind in the Miller or the Imperial when I was a child. Can someone tell me which theater it was shown in the early sixties? I even remember that Butterfly McQueen came on the stage during intermission.
Hasn't it been over a year since Mr. Knox made his amazing offer to give the symphony The Miller? It can't take that long to figure out the cost factor, can it? And why did the symphony have to go outside of our area in the 1st place to have this done? Keep the money in Augusta or at least in Georgia. They don't deserve to have that beautiful old building anyway. I want to Miller to be a movie house again. Forget the non-profit stuff...that doesn't seem to be working.Didn't he try to give it to another group before the symphony?Mr. Knox should get in touch with the McMenamin Brothers out in Oregon. They have restored several old movie houses, amoung other things, that are very successful. What happen To Friends Of The Miller...why not give it to them? At least they seem to want The Miller!
If all the forum posters who say they want to turn the building into a movie theater would pony up some cash, it could be done. Then each of you could be ushers, or cashiers, or popcorn poppers. Who would be the janitor?
It's fun to dream about spending other people's money, isn't it?
Little Lamb, you might as well hang it up. It doesn't matter whether the Miller is turned into a symphony hall, a movie theater, or the world's largest bathroom; public money is gonna be used with it.
might be too big to bring people out to see art flicks and foreign films..... but, i think mr. moore has the right idea.....
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hHt0BxPY1O3Pd9lY4rhjdf...
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