The reopening of Grand Rapids'
Wealthy Theatre eight years ago began a period of transformation for Wealthy St. SE. This year, the theater hopes to once again become a catalyst for bringing more visitors to the neighborhood.
Thanks to a $550,000 capital campaign that is currently in its final fundraising push, the theater (1130 Wealthy St. SE) will be getting some much needed improvements that should help entice larger scale productions to its stage.
Jenny Waugh, marketing manager for
Rockford Construction, the company handling the construction, says the main goal for the upgrades is sustainability.
"One thing they want to do, especially because of the old lighting throughout the theater -- the aisle lights and the huge spotlights -- all of those are just traditional lights," Waugh says. "They are very hot, they are very expensive to run and they aren't very flexible. So if you were to replace all of them with LED lights, your operating costs go down tremendously. It's actually safer because they don't get hot like traditional lights do."
In addition, Waugh says the LED lights will offer visual benefits to productions. The light colors will be able to change through the flick of a switch to any color in the spectrum, rather than the current method, which requires the manual switching of a series of color screens.
"It's appealing to higher end or higher production shows," Waugh says.
The theater is also planning to renovate its parking lot, adding green space, center islands, curbs and parking spaces.
Waugh says the theater will add solar panels to the roof and will implement an airlock system at the front and back doors, which will also reduce operational costs. Maintenance improvements will also be made, including fresh paint, carpet and other minor upgrades to keep the building looking nice.
Source: Jenny Waugh, Rockford Construction Company
Writer: Charlsie Dewey, Freelance Reporter
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