Construction to start soon on Boardwalk Theatre in St. Clair

Local leaders celebrated the start of construction of the Riverbank Theatre group’s new venue — its name newly unveiled — in downtown St. Clair on Tuesday.

The Boardwalk Theatre is still on track to open in time for its first performance season by next spring, according to Dan Brennan, of Westhaven Builders.

The general contractor said they’ve wrapped up two or three months of underground work, including early signs of an orchestra pit, for the future 12,000-square-feet, 350-seat performing arts facility, expecting to start the rest of the project in the next few weeks.

“It’s going to get really exciting as we go vertical,” Brennan told a small crowd Tuesday. “… You’re going to see the beginning of the steel infrastructure go up in the next two to three weeks, and then, very shortly after that, the walls will go up and the interior will begin. Then, we’ll finish the exterior. So, I say, by the end of the summer, beginning of fall, the building will be very much in its final look.”

Kathy Vertin, executive director and founder of the Riverbank organization, said they’ve been looking forward to the groundbreaking “for a long time” after first introducing outdoor summer performances to downtown St. Clair two years ago.

“It was a really great thing to have done. We enjoyed it,” Vertin said. “And it actually led to this because we thought this is where the theatre should be — right downtown. It’ll have the most impact.”

The theatre nonprofit also includes the Riverbank and Snug theatres in Marine City.

Now in its ninth season, Vertin recalled the establishment of theatre amid the emergence of an assortment of other new storefronts in Marine City’s downtown.

With the help of a $1 million challenge grant for the new venue, she said they hoped to do something similar for St. Clair, adding, “You can see what it does for the economic impact of a town.”

The name of the new theatre also emerged in the last few weeks after they called out for name ideas on the Riverbank’s Facebook page. Two respondents won a season pass next year for suggesting the Boardwalk.

Casey: EDA taps $400,000 grant for new theatre 

Also during Tuesday’s ceremony, Dan Casey,  CEO of the Economic Development Alliance of St. Clair County, announced a $400,000 grant for the Boardwalk as part of an arts and culture grant program.

The funding is from St. Clair County Board Chairman Jeff Bohm’s share of the county’s $31 million in American Rescue Plan dollars. Earlier this year, the board signed off on his designating the EDA to help find a use of funds in his district, which includes the city of St. Clair.

“I couldn’t think of a better use for that in terms of the mission that we envisioned for bringing more arts and culture and events to this area,” Casey said.

Vertin said with the help of the $400,000 going toward the $3 million theatre project, they were “now well more than two-thirds of the way there” toward fundraising.

“We’re still chasing some down,” Vertin said, pointing to a grant application to the Michigan Arts and Culture Council as an example. “We’re waiting on other funding sources. But we are underway. So, I’m just very, very excited about that.”

Bohm: Boardwalk Theatre a source for ‘incremental growth’

Both Bohm and Vertin also said they believe they are one step closer to achieving a broader vision for the area with the start of the Boardwalk’s construction.

Bohm referenced two visits to Stratford, Ontario, where there’s a decades-long, well-known theatre festival. Although a smaller community in a rural area, he said he’s been surprised how talent in arts and culture helps attract other talent.

“When you’re in my position, you have to go look at the best. If you have an idea that you want to do something in your community, go find the best, then quantify, ‘Can I be X amount a percent of the best?’ We’re not going to be Stratford overnight. But can we be 5% of Stratford?” Bohm said.

He added Riverbank’s already been close to 23,000 tickets out of 250 existing theatre seats — positing it as an early predicter for growth with the Boardwalk.

“Now, we have 350 seats,” Bohm said. “… You have to look at that incremental growth and see where that can take you.”

Contact Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @Jackie20Smith.

This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: Construction to start soon on Boardwalk Theatre in St. Clair