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Comedy Center To Use State Aid On Construction, Screens

The city of Jamestown received a Green Innovation Grant for $1,480,000 for the Tracy Plaza redevelopment project from the state.
Above, a conceptual drawing of the National Comedy Center, which will receive $834,000 from the state through the 2016 Regional Economic Development Council program.

An additional $834,000 in funding from New York state will be going toward the National Comedy Center project.

On Thursday, state officials announced the funding rewarded to projects through the Regional Economic Development Councils. Throughout the state, 10 regional councils competed for $700 million in state funding. Western New York received $62 million toward projects that will go toward sustainable and long-term growth in the five county region — Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie and Niagara counties — and to leverage the region’s advantages in key industry sectors, including advanced manufacturing; agriculture; bi-national logistics; energy; health and life sciences; higher education; professional services; and tourism.

In Jamestown, the National Comedy Center is one of the projects to receive funding from the regional council program. To go along with the funding this year, the state awarded center officials $1.5 million in 2014 and $2,025,000 in 2015.

This year’s award for the National Comedy Center project included $600,000 in gap funding that will go toward the general construction of the facility.

”We are thrilled New York state continues to see the value in this project and continues to be a strong partner,” said Journey Gunderson, National Comedy Center executive director.

“For Western New York, as a whole not bei

ng named a top performing region, we are extremely grateful for these two awards, and they are critical.”

The project also received $234,000 that will be used toward two large digital screens and the hologram theater projection system. The National Comedy Center will feature two full-height, high-resolution digital screens on the outside of the entrance facility that will be used to show movies and live entertainment. The center will also feature the world’s first Hologram Comedy Club. In partnership with the National Comedy Center, Hologram USA has created the Hologram Comedy Club that will display holograms of famous comedians delivering well-known routines. There will be eight to 10 famous comedy routines that will circulate through the day, with a marque schedule so tourists know when their favorite virtual performer will be on stage.

”The exterior screens will help connect the project to the community because, while there is incredible exhibits to experience inside, the high-definition screens on the outside will enhance the (state) Parks Department funding for the community space along West Second Street. This allows the (National Comedy Center) to have a visibility to the community on the outside to showcase events in the world of comedy and to commiserate artist. It allows us to program events with the community and sort of, very visibly, develop our voice in the world of comedy.”

On Thursday, city officials received $1,480,000 from the state through a Green Innovation Grant for the Tracy Plaza redevelopment project. The funding will assist city officials in funding the $4.5 million estimated total cost of the renovation project. The redesign work for Tracy Plaza will go toward adding more landscaping to make the structure more environmentally friendly, more energy efficient and aesthetically pleasing. Plans for the redesign include relocating the Veterans Memorial to be closer to the wall of the fireman’s doom that is visible on southwest corner of the plaza. On the wall, the plan is for a mural to be painted depicting U.S. soldiers.

Sam Teresi, Jamestown mayor, said city officials will be able to combine the $1,480,000 with the $1.2 million from the 2015 bond to cover more than half of the overall Tracy Plaza renovation project.

”This is going to be huge to dealing with the structural deterioration of Tracy Plaza. The building is 46 years old and has gone through a lot of wear and tear, and a lot of weathering. This will also help with energy saving for the city, which is very significant to us,” Teresi said. ”The game plan now is to go through final engineering designs now that we know how much money we have to work with, and then we will go to bid. This will be a 2017-18 construction project for us.”

The Jamestown Renaissance Corporation received $111,297 for the second phase of the Winter Garden Plaza renovation project. The project goal is to improve the plaza for live entertainment. A canvas canopy system would be constructed on the west side of the plaza for shelter for live performers. Also, when there is no live entertainment, the canopy could be used by someone wanting to eat in the Winter Garden plaza. The project would also improve lighting in the area, and new benches and a bike rack would be added to the plaza.

This is the second time JRC officials applied for Regional Economic Development Council funding from the state for the next phase of improvements to the area along North Main Street near the Wine Cellar where the Winter Garden Theater used to be located.

Greg Lindquist, Jamestown Renaissance Corporation executive director, said after not receiving funding last year, they met with state officials and received a debriefing on how to improve their application.

”They were kind enough to give us ideas on how to improve the application. We did resubmit it and we are delighted to receive $111,297 in funding for improvements,” he said. ”We are looking to start construction this spring and, hopefully, be completed by the end of the summer of 2017.”

In 2010, the Winter Garden Theater was demolished and construction of Winter Garden Plaza started. After years as a movie house, the Winter Garden became abandoned and blighted. After a thorough analysis of redevelopment costs and alternatives, it was decided that the site would be more productive to downtown Jamestown as a small park.

Since the plaza’s completion in 2011, it has hosted numerous activities including outdoor movies, the Third Thursday concert series, Jamestown Now’s Sauce Off and Chalk Walk, and events during the Lucille Ball Comedy Festival. As a complementary feature to these activities, The Wine Cellar has a permanent outdoor beer garden in the plaza.

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