SANDUSKY, Ohio — It's been almost five years since a freak windstorm caused a part of the Sandusky State Theater to cave in.
In June of 2020, strong storms with wind gusts more than 55 miles per hour rolled through Northeast Ohio, and Sandusky took the brunt of it.
Sandusky State Theater's roof caved into the auditorium due to it, and a water main broke, which pumped gallons into the building.
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"When the storm first happened, we were just reacting. It took a minute, but then once we got our bearings, we had a plan,” Sandusky State Theater Executive Director Chris Parthemore said.
That restoration plan has cost about $25 million so far. The funding was derived from donors, government grants, and a fiscal plan from years ago.
How much money is still to be invested into the restoration of the theater couldn’t be shared with us Tuesday night.
“We've hit a couple of bumps in the road, but we're working diligently,” Sandusky State Theater board member Tim Parkison stated. “We're so close to getting it over the finish line.”
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One of the speed bumps includes contractual issues with the theater’s general contractor, according to Parkison.
“The project is currently on pause due to some unresolved contractual issues with our general contractor,” he added. “In response, the theater has invoked its rights under a performance bond which we procured before construction began.”
The theater has a “do not exceed” contract, which means there is a monetary ceiling the theater is not comfortable with exceeding. The issue lies within that, said Parkison.
Due to the ongoing contractual problem, further repairs and restoration have been on pause since July and will continue to be until further notice.
I asked Parkison if this dilemma might lead to an open bid for a new contractor.
“I can’t say at this time,” Parkison said.
While the theater sorts that out, the blueprints are still laid out and the gears are continuing to grind on what the future holds.
“We have some buttoning up to do on the outside and in our second venue as well as just some other various odds and ends around the building,” Parkison stated.
Additionally, Parthemore said carpet has been selected for the auditorium floor, but that will be the finishing touch.
Once the theater is open, guests will also notice a theme of “same but different.”
There are murals that reflect the Sandusky Bay and the sky that was above the theater following the collapse.
While the architects and artists are not local, Parthemore said the team they hired out of Brooklyn, New York, spent time in Sandusky to better understand what makes the area what it is.
As for the stage, it has expanded 20 feet deeper.
“It was a limitation that we had prior to this project. We only had a 27-foot-deep stage which really limited the number of acts we could bring in, so by expanding those 20 feet, now we can fit just about anything you'd ever want to see on the stage,” Parthemore shared.
One of the big goals for restoration was to make it feel like 1928 again, which is the year the theater was built.
“The theater has such a great history. We've had great acts over the years here. Shirley Temple was on stage in the 1930s. B.B. King and Willie Nelson have been here. It's just such an iconic venue that means so much to the community. We wanted to honor that history in the restoration and just really build something that would tell the story but make everybody in the community proud,” Parthemore noted.
Once construction is finished, the Sandusky State Theater will have the largest programming budget it’s ever had, said Parthemore.
“We absolutely will have Broadway national tours,” he added.
With anticipation and excitement rising, many folks have the same questions: Why has it taken the theater five years to get to this point of restoration? And when will it be complete?
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“With the historic theater, these are normally five-to-seven-year projects and sometimes more than that,” Parthemore explained. “This was a natural disaster. We didn't plan it. We got a call one night that, ‘Hey, the building blew down.’ We just had to react immediately, come up with a plan. We knew right away that we were going to rebuild, but it was done so meticulously. The blending of an old building with modern HVAC and modern plumbing; it's hard to take an old building and retrofit it that way. It’s really a labor of love and takes time.”
Parthemore said the restoration of the theater is 90% complete.
An ETA on when it’ll finally be finished is to be determined.
Parkison said the theater will, however, open its auditorium to the public at the end of January so people can view the hard work that’s been put into the building.
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We’ll continue to follow through.
