Foundation details $90 million Carolina Theatre restoration work and timeline to reopen
Wearing a hard hat and yellow safety vest, Cathy Bessant walked around the venerable Carolina Theatre in uptown surrounded by construction dust, wooden boards on the floor and racks of metal pipes during a Tuesday media tour.
As president and CEO of the Foundation For The Carolinas, Bessant is looking forward to seeing a more polished theater when renovations are complete by Thanksgiving — 46 years after the historic building closed on Nov. 27, 1978.
It’s scheduled to re-open to the public in 2025. The foundation, which owns the theater, is making progress on the restoration project with a cost of $90 million.
A media tour was hosted by the foundation to provide an update to the public.
“The theater is kind of a mystery to people,” Bessant said. “And it’s been going on for so long that sometimes people assume that because it’s going on for so long that’s there’s something wrong with it.”
Original plans estimated the theater would open in the fall 2021, but those plans were delayed because of structural problems., according to the foundation.
Revitalizing the 97-year-old theater has been a complex process.
“It’s harder to make new things look old, than it is to make old things look new,” Bessant said. “I call it renovation when you make old things looks new. But restoration is when you make new thing look like they were in the period of original construction.”
Project manager Sean Seifert assisted Bessant on the tour and said there’s still a lot of work to do on sections such as the lobby, a concession stand and seating.
The goal also is to bring back its Mediterranean architecture style.
And workers are adding technology that was not in the original theater. The goal is to have everything ready for performers so they don’t have to bring their own technology equipment.
About Carolina Theatre
The Carolina Theatre opened in 1927 and the first movie played was “A Kiss in a Taxi,” a silent comedy film. The final movie, a Bruce Lee flick, ran in 1978. Between those times, it hosted big-name acts like Bob Hope, Katherine Hepburn and Elvis Presley.
Foundation For The Carolinas made a request to the city to have ownership of the decaying theater in 2012. It was awarded to the organization a year later.
“We bought it for a dollar and as I said before, we overpaid,” Bessant said with a laugh.
The foundation later announced a $51.5 million capital campaign for renovations, but now has raised $78 million so far. Its top gift came from the Belk family. The campus that includes the Carolina Theatre, the Levine Conference Center and the foundation’s headquarters, the Luski-Gorelick Center of Philanthropy, will be called Belk Place.
Donations came from the public, the city of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County and the state.
Everything old is new again
Construction began in summer 2018.
Architects and construction workers are renovating the building to look like the old 1920s theatre.
Tall glass windows forming a a box on the corner of 6th and Tryon streets will provide a clear view of the historic front of the theater, according to Observer reports.
After walking through the glass doors, visitors will enter a 4,000-square foot lobby, which was not part of the original design. It had a few stores in the front and a wide hallway behind the facade where tickets were purchased.
Theatergoers also will see a 1920s-style marquee when they sit down in the 950-seat facility.
After renovations are complete, officials for the Carolina Theatre would like to use the building for lectures and public meetings. Film, arts and entertainment events will also be held at the theater.
The foundation also is planning to use the space as an extension for its headquarters conference area.
A 23-floor hotel is being built above the theater’s lobby. It will have more than 200 guest rooms and features such as a rooftop restaurant and bar, ballroom, meeting space and fitness center.
