The shows will go on this fall in Fort Collins

FORT COLLINS — After more than a year of construction, the Lincoln Center began selling new season subscriptions July 1 in anticipation of its grand reopening the weekend of Sept. 16.

The grand reopening show will feature the Midtown Men, four stars from the original Broadway cast of “Jersey Boys,” a 2006 Tony Award winner, performing hits from the 1960s. Curtain goes up on the first show at the Lincoln Center since spring 2010 at 8 p.m. on Sept. 17.

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Single tickets to main stage shows at the Lincoln Center will go on sale Aug. 9.

Shows included in the reopening season are expected to be high caliber, “the kind of shows you would go to Denver to see,” said Susan Herlihy, public relations coordinator for the Lincoln Center.

Fort Collins-based Bryan Construction completed the $8 million remodel, which was designed by Aller, Lingle, Massey Architects PC, also based in Fort Collins. Ricca Newmark of Denver worked on the interior design, and Russell+Mills of Fort Collins created the landscaping.

The renovation has created a whole new atmosphere for the performing arts complex, Herlihy said, improving the ambiance for patrons both inside and outside. Some of the improvements include:

• a new orchestra shell and state-of-the-art sound system;
• a full-service outdoor rooftop deck, with elevator access and bathrooms;
• an expanded and enhanced lobby;
• a relocated box office that can be opened to the public without opening the lobby as a whole, increasing energy efficiency;
• additional seating, improved sightlines, and acoustical upgrades in the mini-theater;
• upgraded dressing rooms, storage, technical needs and other backstage components;
• upgraded Canyon West rental space, now a Grand Ballroom;
• a climate-controlled visual arts gallery.

In all, 55,000 square feet of space underwent renovation and 17,000 square feet were added to the existing building, according to Herlihy.

As it did before the renovation, the Lincoln Center will feature shows by local theater troupes as well as touring companies, ranging from “100 Years of Broadway” to “Monty Python’s Spamalot.”

The smaller, 220-seat theater, which is now the Magnolia Theater, will open with “The Peanut Butter and Jam Revue,” sponsored by the Fort Collins Children’s Theater July 21 to 23.

Conference rooms and other event rental spaces will also open before the main auditorium. Lincoln Center is currently accepting reservations for the spaces, including the rooftop deck, for dates beginning July 16.

Regular performers at the Center are excited to get back to their home venue.

“We’re really excited to be going back to the Lincoln Center,” said Fort Collins Symphony executive director Carrie Newman.

The symphony has been playing in other venues in the area, such as Timberline Church in Fort Collins, while the construction was completed.

The new orchestra shell and enhanced acoustics will allow the symphony to continue with their MasterWorks Series, but with bigger and better sound.

“We’re excited to hear the first sounds of symphony,” Newman said, adding that the repertoire for the upcoming season is designed to highlight the big sounds that are now possible in the theater.

While work was done on the theaters themselves, the renovations are also designed to provide patrons with the best-possible “second experience,” Herlihy said. That refers to the atmosphere patrons encounter when they aren’t watching a show, whether they’re having a drink with friends prior to curtain or conducting a meeting in one of the conference rooms.

Construction challenges

The Lincoln Center originally opened in 1978 and now hosts 1,100 events a year, according to general manager Ty Sutton. It was constructed on the site of Fort Collins’ first high school, which opened in 1903. The school became a junior high and adopted the name Lincoln Junior High in 1939, according to Lesley Drayton, archive curator at Fort Collins History Connection.

Parts of the junior high were incorporated into the original Lincoln Center, including the name, Drayton said.

The many incarnations of buildings on the site over the decades created some of the biggest challenges during the current renovation, Sutton said.

“We found foundations outside with stairs leading into nowhere, just into the ground,” he said.

About two thirds of the funding for the $8.2 million project came from a quarter-cent city sales tax approved by voters in 2005 called the “Building on Basics” capital projects tax. The rest of the money came from grants and private donations, said Sutton.

When it came time to decide what to add to the building, members of local theater groups were called upon to address the “second experience” issues that stemmed from a lack of patron and performer amenities.

Rather than expand the theaters themselves, Sutton said, it made more sense to bring everything else about the Lincoln Center in line with the theaters.

“Making the theaters larger would only have made the current problems worse,” he said.

The end result was space with functional use and large, flowing spaces, according to Sutton, who mentioned the tight corners and dark hallways in the building before the upgrade.

“It’s all very cohesive now,” he said.

The new Lincoln Center will also be more environmentally friendly, Sutton added. The building is LEED Gold certified, and will be mindful of staying green going forward.

“We have a comprehensive plan for being sustainable,” Sutton said.

Recycling and heating and cooling issues have been addressed, and the new design allowed for “daylighting,” which will reduce the need for artificial light inside the building during the day. In addition to green building components, Sutton said that the building will also be mindful of the kinds of chemicals they use for cleaning and other purposes.

The Lincoln Center is now a member of an initiative called the Rocky Mountain Green Venue Partnership, he said, which counts venues such as Coors Field and the Pepsi Center in Denver among its ranks.