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Dreamland hires new architect
Foundation hires Boston architectural firm CBT; Schedule of summer events planned for parking lot
BY PETER B. BRACE INDEPENDENT WRITER
With plans to reopen the Dreamland Theater in 2010, the Nantucket Dreamland Foundation hired CBT of Boston to compose architectural and engineering plans for review by island permitting boards this May.
The Dreamland Foundation chose CBT because of its vast experience in building revitalization and reclamation, and its multifaceted abilities of architecture, interior architecture, site planning and urban design.
"They're a great architectural firm, they're very talented, very highly regarded, they have a lot of experience with this type of project and they have done a lot of adaptive reuse," said project manager Nick Iselin of the Brighton, Mass. firm Intercontinental Developers, owned by summer resident Peter Palandjian who helped orches- trate the foundation's purchase of the Dreamland. "They not only bring a sensitive eye to the historic aspect of the project, but also will be very forward looking in their approach to green design."
Originally, the foundation retained architect Graham Gund's The GUND Partnership to help find a design theme suitable for the building and for Nantucket. In the end, however, the foundation chose CBT for the aforementioned reasons, said Iselin.
The Nantucket Dreamland Foundation purchased the theater at 17 South Water St. and 18 Easy St. on Oct. 3, 2007 for $9.8 million from Dreamland Theatre ZMG, LLC after former owner Haim Zahavi failed to secure the necessary permits to renovate the building.
The foundation is composed of summer residents James Pallotta, Boston hedge fund manager and part owner of the Boston Celtics; Barry Sternlicht, Starwood Capital CEO, and Philippe Laffont, Coatue Management Founder. The foundation plans to restore the Dreamland as a movie theater, with added space on the second and third floors for arts, theater and community uses.
The foundation's board of directors hopes to vote on plans at its next meeting in late April before submitting them to the Historic District Commission, the Planning Board, Conservation Commission and several state agencies, said Iselin.
"I think there's been tremendous enthusiasm for the program that is being developed, and when the plans come to light in the next several months, people will be really excited about it," he said.
Although no work will be done on the 178-year-old building this summer and the building will remain closed, Nantucket Dreamland Foundation executive director Patty Roggeveen said that the foundation is working on a schedule of events to be held in the parking lot behind the building.
Summer programming for the Dreamland's Easy Street parking lot will be known as the "Back Lot," said Roggeveen, who added that island nonprofit groups, including the Artists' Association of Nantucket, the Theatre Workshop, Sustainable Nantucket, the Comedy Festival and the Nantucket Film Festival are all working with the Dreamland Foundation on how they will use the space this summer.
"What amounts to a kind of messy space could be a really wonderful spot this summer for some cultural activities in the center of town," said Roggeveen.
Because the Dreamland Foundation and Nantucket Film Festival staff will be sharing the same office space at 35 Centre St., Roggeveen hinted that some film festival events might take place on the Back Lot. Roggeveen said she and the foundation are talking with film festival principals about how this might work.
She added that the foundation is considering removing some architectural elements to the right of the outside stair shaft to make that section of the east wall flat enough so that movies could possibly be shown on the outside of the building. This would, naturally, be contingent upon the foundation securing the necessary permits
to operate such outdoor programs. I
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