The Tivoli Theatre Foundation is set to close on its financing package near Labor Day and construction will begin as early as December, foundation CEO Nick Wilkinson told the Kiwanis Club at its Tuesday meeting.
The $70 million cost to overhaul the Tivoli Theatre and build the new Tivoli Performing Arts Center next door is up from a January estimate of $57 million. The foundation has raised $24 million in grants and contributions. Mr. Wilkinson said the rest will be covered with two separate tax credits, a significant energy efficiency loan, and other bank loans.
Sixteen months of construction then puts the Jewel of the South’s opening in Spring 2025, Mr. Wilkinson said.
Mr. Wilkinson said rising costs meant saying goodbye to some elements, including a back alleyway connector hall between the theatre and the performing arts center.
He said a design collaboration with Chattanooga Parks and Outdoors will bring the box office at the Tivoli’s Broad Street entrance closer to the original 1921 composition, off to one side with more open space for crowds.
Mr. Wilkinson said the ground floor at the performing arts center will flow freely into the reimagined Broad Street. He’s cultivating a vitality around the Tivoli that’s “crucial,” he said, and may take the place of offices quitting downtown.
He said the riverfront has the Aquarium, Southside has the Choo Choo, and the Tivoli joins the two areas as a “cultural anchor.”
The theatre renovation will include paint, new seats and updated décor while maintaining the historic footprint. The new performing arts center side will absorb main-level bathrooms, a new bar, concessions and elevator, all ADA-compliant.
The performing arts center’s 250-seat Bobby Stone Theatre will offer a film series and Camp Broadway for school-aged children. Retractable seating makes the theatre versatile. The space can be used by Chattanooga Ballet and Chattanooga Symphony and Opera for rehearsals.
Chattanooga Ballet, the CSO and the Chattanooga Boys Choir take 26 percent of the Tivoli’s calendar at a discounted rate, totaling $1 million saved by those organizations in rent since the foundation came to be in 2019, Mr. Wilkinson said.