Plans to renovate the box office building to add a more robust welcome center at the Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheater will be postponed temporarily as the city addresses a foundation issue discovered at the front of the building.
The front porch area is held up by corrugated metal that has degraded over the years due to leaks, and so the porch’s foundation will need to be repaired before work can proceed on the interior renovation, according to city Community Services Director Jon Rorie.
“There is no danger of the building collapsing or anything like that,” Rorie said. “We’re just at the crossroads to address it.”
The problem was discovered by the city’s consulting engineering firm: Pond and Company.
The interior renovation is designed to take advantage of extra available space to create a more vibrant welcome center experience.
The city has already put a new roof on the cast house area of the amphitheater, but other projects are being held off until the concert season is completed, including a sewer rehabilitation project.
“Anything with the amphitheater we are trying to make sure we are doing these things so it has less impact on the patrons and the shows,” Rorie said.
