3 days ago
Former Grass Valley tech building to transform into music, art, and culture hub
( — Nevada County is home to a few dedicated theaters, with the Nevada Theater, minutes away from the tech company Grass Valley, being the oldest theater west of the Mississippi.
Now, there are new plans to turn Grass Valley into a central destination for music and the arts.
The former tech company's owner tried to sell it during the COVID-19 pandemic, but no buyer was in sight, until InConcert Sierra purchased it at a bargain price of about $2.3 million.
The purchase kicked off the construction of Crown Point Venues, but it wasn't all seamless at first.
Within 36 hours of In-Concert Sierra purchasing the building, Mother Nature had other plans.
'We signed the papers on March 3, 2023, closing the deal, and sometime that weekend, within about 36 hours, right where we're standing, the roof of the building collapsed,' Artistic Director of In-Concert Sierra, Ken Hardin, said.
A powerful storm rolled in, dumping several feet of snow that the grass valley community hadn't seen in years, which caused sections of the building's roof to collapse.
'It wound up being just Mother Nature saying, let's get this project started, because we were going to raise the roof here anyway,' Hardin added.
Driven by resilience, Hardin and his team sprang into action, giving the building a fresh start that is projected to cost $20 million.
'InConcert Sierra is primarily a concert presenting organization. We don't build buildings. We don't operate buildings. So, we've had a huge learning curve,' Hardin said. 'We have a wonderful board of directors that's been very involved in shepherding the project.'
Crown Point Venues is set to house three venues all under one roof.
From a conference center with enough seating for at least 400 people.
'4,400 square feet, which will be available for galas, fundraisers, banquets, and also for corporate trainings, government meetings, any kind of public assembly that people want to have,' said Hardin. '…and that'll really be the economic driver of the building, that space will support the building economically.'
To a black box theater designed with flexible seating options to suit just about every type of performance.
'This wall surface doesn't touch this wall surface anywhere, so sound can't travel, vibration can't travel through, and sound can't right, so we don't bleed into another venue,' Hardin said.
And the crown jewel of them all, an acoustic concert hall.
'Basically, means that the performer performs without amplification, and the audience experience is that whatever they do on stage sounds the same anywhere in the room, anywhere you are in the room without amplification,' Hardin explained.
Hardin said the concert hall is aimed at attracting world-class talent.
'And personally, as a musician, this kind of space is exactly the kind of space that musicians dream of performing in, a beautiful acoustic, a large stage,' Hardin said. 'We could have easily 700 people in this room with performers on the stage, an orchestra, and an audience of 540.'
Roughly $15 million of the $20 million has already been raised, and they're working to raise the remaining amount with an anticipated opening in 2026.
Any music enthusiast looking to get involved can visit the project's website to sign up for their fundraising event, which includes a behind-the-scenes tour of their transformation.
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