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02/03/2016 08:00 AMFollowing the recent hiring of an architect to assess the conversion of Academy School into a cultural arts center, questions concerning the total cost of project are beginning to swirl. The Shoreline Arts Alliance (SAA), with which the town currently has a letter of intent, has said it will pay for the renovation and transformation of the building, but some local leaders have still expressed concerns.
First Selectman Tom Banisch mentioned his funding concerns publicly at the annual town meeting on Jan. 26. Banisch later explained he is concerned by the lack of financial planning.
“I think it is going to take a lot of money to bring Academy school back and, under the prior administration, no money was ever put in the budget for last year or this coming budget to account for that,” he said.
Banisch said he has communicated his concerns to the SAA.
“I’ll do whatever I need to do to help and they said, ‘OK, that’s great,’ but they still haven’t raised any money,” Banisch said. “So my point was to say we really need to see you start to raise some serious money, because it is going to take some serious money to convert this building.”
Currently Centerbrook Architects, the firm chosen for the project, has completed preliminary evaluations of the building and is now ready to move to the next step.
Banisch said the evaluation of the building will occur in two stages. The first will be the rehabilitation of the building and the second will be the assessment of cost to transform the building into a cultural arts center. Banisch said the town will only bear financial responsibility for the first phase.
“We are negotiating with one firm, so I always felt that put us at a disadvantage as opposed to dealing with two or three people and getting the best price,” he said. “If we can’t come to a number that we can afford, we don’t have to move forward.”
SAA CEO and Executive Director Eric Dillner said his organization is ready to move forward with fundraising, but they need final budget numbers before they can begin requesting specific funds.
“The hiring of the architect is to develop numbers that will aid in the process of determining funds that are needed for the project, so that is the goal of the town and the goal of the SAA is to get that number and then we can officially request funds that are needed for the project,” he said. “We have many funding streams, but we can’t ask for a specific amount until we know what that amount is.”
In the meantime, Dillner said they are working to rally community support through neighborhood meetings.
“We had another community forum last week in Madison where there were 30 people gathered to talk about the project and it was overwhelmingly exciting to hear all of the support,” he said. “We spent the day today following up with those folks to move along their offers to help with the project. Right now we don’t know what to ask of them financially, but many are offering parties, fundraisers, friendraisers, and those kinds of events to get us moving forward.”
For the first phase of the project, the SAA is hoping to raise $500,000 and Dillner said they’re halfway there thanks in large part to the Good to Great Grant received in 2015 totaling 225,000. Dillner said he is also working with state officials to begin to line up bigger fundraising sources.
“I spend a lot of time in Hartford working with our government, because this is a project that’s well respected at the historic preservation office and the Office of Economic and Community Development,” he said. “We are working together on how this project is really going to impact Connecticut as a whole.”
Dillner said they will have to move quickly with the assessment of the building if they hope to have more concrete numbers before the letter of intent expires on July 1.
“This assessment could take nine months pretty easily, so that doesn’t really line up with the July deadline,” he said. “We need to either revise that to make it longer or get the ball rolling quicker.”
Banisch said he will need to see a significant fundraising push to consider extending the letter of intent.
“It has been extended once, but if there is still no money on July 1, I see no reason to extend it,” he said. “If they are working at it and making good progress, then I would consider it.”