The Select Board Tuesday agreed to spend more than $750,000 to make urgent repairs at Memorial Hall to stop water from leaking into the building and keep it from being closed.
Town Meeting last month approved allocating $90,000 for a study to determine viability of restoring 100-year-old hall, which is decaying, but officials say emergency measures are needed now.
Town Manager Derek Brindisi told the board it would cost $60,000 to install a foundation drain and an impermeable membrane along part of Memorial Hall’s east side, which is vulnerable to rain whipping against it off the harbor.
Brick repair, flashing, caulking, historic repointing, crack injection, masonry sealant, and joint repair of the east wall would cost another $275,000, Brindisi said. Rainwater penetrates the wall behind the stage during storms, he said.
Another $350,000 would cover brick repair, flashing, caulking, historic repointing, crack injection, masonry sealant, and joint repair on the north side.
With 10 percent added for cost overruns, the total cost was pegged at $753,000.
The work could buy the building five years while the town decides what it should be used for, what would be needed to make it ideal for those purposes, and even whether it should be torn down and rebuilt, Brindisi said.
“This work keeps the doors open,” he said.
Jason Silva, the town’s director of inspectional services, has warned that if no repairs are made, the downtown building could be unusable within two years.
At first, Select Board member Kevin Canty said the expenditure was premature. He proposed holding off on spending money on repairs until the town decides what kinds of activities the hall should be used for.
“We need to know what we want Memorial Hall to be before we start funding repairs or remodeling or reconstruction of it,” Canty said.
Canty favored partnering with the Plymouth Philharmonic Orchestra – a longtime fixture at the hall – to market it primarily as a venue for musical and stage acts and then remodeling or rebuilding it to serve that purpose.
Today, the hall accommodates everything from cage fighting matches to pickleball.
The town has $86,000 in an account for Memorial Hall repairs that has not been spent since Town Meeting approved the funds in 2016. Another $500,000 is in the Memorial Hall revolving fund for capital improvements. That fund collects money from concession sales and rentals. That leaves a balance of $167,000.
Separate from the revolving fund, Memorial Hall charges a $1 ticket fee for capital improvements that has brought in $3,000 in the two months since it has been implemented. On average, the hall sells 120,000 tickets a year, so the ticket fee could, from here on out, raise $120,000 a year.
But that is a fraction of what would be needed if major renovations were undertaken because of the study, with estimates topping $20 million.
Canty proposed raising the ticket fee to $5, but Select Board Chair David Golden, Vice Chair Dick Quintal, and member Bill Keohan opposed that suggestion. Instead, they supported asking Brindisi to see if the Plymouth Growth and Development Corporation, the Plymouth Foundation, and the Visitor Services Board could pay the outstanding $167,000 for emergency repairs.
Brindisi outlined $10 million in additional repairs that he identified as the top three priorities beyond the $753,000.
The exterior preservation of the building, including masonry repairs, crack repairs, a water-repellent coating, replacement of window beams, and restoration or replacement of existing wooden windows, doors, and trim, would cost $4 million, Brindisi said.
Another $5.5 million would be needed for a new heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system and an upgraded fire alarm system.
It would cost an added $500,000 to restore the green room – a space for performers to go before and after a show – and to replaces the toilets and other plumbing.
In July, at the request of the Select Board, the Community Preservation Committee voted to table a previous proposal by Brindisi to recommend spending $15 million to go toward restoring the structure, opting instead to support the preservation study.
Fred Thys can be reached at fred@plymouthindependent.org.