Reconstructing the Dreamland
Breaking down and building up the Dreamland by the numbers
BY PETER B. BRACE INDEPENDENT WRITER
Acostly restoration - not historical, but structural - will be the biggest hit the next owner of the Dreamland Theater will incur after most likely paying upwards of $10 million for the property. The latest renovation estimate for the building, done by real estate appraiser H. Flint Ranney of Denby Real Estate, is around $8 million.

Originally built as the Quaker Meeting House in 1829, and floated across the harbor from Brant Point in 1906 to its current address, the three-story building is in good shape, but will require substantial interior and exterior work to bring it back to its former self, especially if prospective buyer Rick Ulmer is going to put a ballroom/performing arts space on the second floor and a restaurant on the third floor.

Island Engineer Jonathan Stover of Stover Engineering, who has been inside the Dreamland, but has not done a thorough structural examination of it and therefore could not give specific comments on each portion of the building, did offer some general comments about the building's stability as an old post-and-beam framing system with a heavy beam truss roof.

Haim Zahavi

"I didn't see anything in the roof part that led me to believe that [it wasn't structurally sound]," said Stover. "It's functioning well for its use right now. However, the design loads are going to be significantly different than it's been experiencing."

Stover said that he thought it would not be too difficult to reinforce the building by reframing it from the inside, but that the building would need a lot of work.

"I did go in the building and the first floor has definitely been removed, and what we were looking at is piles of rubble and dirt," he said. "Water is fairly close - within three feet - that's not a mystery, the water table's right there. It's the ocean; you're not going to escape that.

"What it does mean is that its soil characteristics would have to be carefully considered for the kinds of loads on the foundation."

Stover added that although he believed the building is stable at this point, whoever ultimately buys it and renovates it will have to bring it up to code in terms of accessibility, fire prevention, structural integrity, electrical wiring and plumbing. As Ulmer has said that he would be starting from scratch, it is likely he would apply to the Historic District Commission, Planning Board and Conservation Commission for their respective permits because his would be a brand new project, separate from the plans of present owner Haim Zahavi.

Based on Zahavi's financial assessment of what his project would cost and how much work the Dreamland Theater needs, according to an exterior/interior inspection done by Foley Buhl Roberts & Associates, Inc. of Newton, Mass., the next owner of the Dreamland is going to be busy.

Naturally, the following cost estimates, structural assessments and sewage flow from the theater, which came from Zahavi's file at the Building Department, are subject to change once the building's new owner decides how to use it and does his or her own study of the building, but this is the most current information to date.

STRUCTURAL

On May 22, 2006, structural engineers from Foley Buhl Roberts & Associates, Inc. of Newton, Mass., inspected the Dreamland Theater to discern the extent of the renovations needed to make the building safe for Zahavi's planned uses.

Founded in 1985, Foley Buhl Roberts & Associates design building framing systems, prepare structural construction documents and provide structural engineering services to architects, owners and contractors. Foley Buhl Roberts & Associates' inspection produced recommendations as to what Zahavi had to have done to the building.

Their recommendations follow: Proposed Renovations - Live and Dead Load:

"The third floor/roof truss construction removal is recommended due to the inflexible layout of the truss membrane and the proposed flexible room layout and dormer additions. A longitudinal center-bearing wall from the second floor to the ridge is proposed with floor joists and roof rafters spanning from the exterior longitudinal wall to the interior bearing wall.

"At the second floor, new steel beams below the new bearing wall and existing 10-inch-by-10-inch wood beam is required spanning between traverse steel beams due to the increased floor and roof loads. The traverse steel beams require reinforcing by the addition of a steel T-shape to the top flange in the existing joist space. The exterior stud walls would be reinforced and repaired as required. Foundation sills would be replaced or repaired at any deteriorated areas. Any other deteriorated members would also be replaced or repaired.

"The mezzanine renovation/addition would be a combination of steel beams with wood framing at the seating area and concrete framing in the projection room if deemed required.

"The theater seating is recommended to be removed and replaced with a new concrete slab on grade to accommodate the new seating profile and to eliminate the crawl space." Proposed Renovation - Wind and Seismic Loads:

"The proposed lateral load resistance system is a combination of horizontal roof and floor plywood diaphragms and vertical plywood shear walls. In the longitudinal direction the exterior walls would be used with the addition of plywood on the interior of the stud framing. In the lateral direction the exterior/interior walls at Easy Street and South Water Street plywood would be used. The walls would be continuous (straight or offset) from the roof to the foundation with added anchors from the sill to the foundation."

Proposed Renovation Foundation:

"The existing brick and rubble stone foundation walls are non-conforming and would require a new interior concrete addition including footing strengthening as required."

Proposed Addition (restaurant)

"The superstructure is proposed as ordinary wood construction with steel beams at the first floor spanning the parking area. The foundation is proposed to be concrete perimeter walls on all four sides on an approximate three-foot-thick mat to resist upward water pressures and to distribute vertical live and dead loads. Assumed flood level of elevation six feet is to be verified. The proposed sheet pile cofferdam would be required also on four sides. The space shall be planned for and provided adjacent to the Easy Street end of the existing building to accommodate the cofferdam and concrete wall."

Existing Soil Conditions - Renovation & Addition

"A review of the four borings performed at the site raises the issue of liquefaction and problems with the installations of a sheet pile cofferdam. To come to complete and final recommendations relative to the new and existing foundation, additional geotechnical work is required."

FINANCIAL

Performance Building Company, Inc. of Lowell, Mass., incorporated in 1993, is a residential/commercial general contractor that Zahavi hired to orchestrate the renovation of the Dreamland Theater building. BPC produced its construction draw schedule for the project in late April. The draw schedule is an agreement between the owner, the builder and the lending institution that spells out when and how payments to the builder are made to fund each stage of construction.

The schedule and breakdown of costs appear on page 1 of this newspaper.

SANITARY FLOWS

For the theater itself, based on a maximum capacity of 400 seats and using the state's Title V septic regulation calculations, Civil Environmental Consultants of Peabody, Mass. hired by Zahavi to assess flows from the building, said that each movie patron would produce five gallons per day per seat.

That works out to 2,000 gallons per day. In contrast, the average single family house sewer connection on Nantucket is based on 330 gallons

per day. I