By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Actors, musicians, event organizers and advocates for the city’s downtown district met
with city officials and a team of architects and designers Tuesday to discuss planned
renovations of the Paul Poag Theatre for the Performing Arts.
The theater, located on South Main Street in the city’s historic downtown district, has
been closed for several years after a variety of safety and code issues were found inside
the building.
The city has commissioned the firm Able City, an architectural and community-planning
group with offices in San Antonio and other Texas cities, to design a proposed restoration
plan for the theater.
Tuesday’s community meeting was held in the Texas Community Bank’s Community
Center, 301 Pecan St.
Peter Ojeda, the city’s marketing and communications director, welcomed those who
attended.
“Throughout the presentation today, you’ll have the opportunity
renovations of the Paul Poag Theatre, speaks during a community meeting Tuesday.
(Photo by Karen Gleason)
to give us feedback,”
Ojeda said, then introduced Ricardo Solis, Able City principal and architect.
Solis thanked all who came to the meeting. About 75 persons attended, including Mayor
Al Arreola, Mayor Pro-tem Jim DeReus, Councilman Randy Quiñones and Robin
Palmer, an elected member of the Val Verde Regional Medical Center’s board of
directors.
“We have a pretty good feel for how important this project is for everyone that’s here
today,” Solis said.
Solis introduced his colleagues, Victor Montes, project manager and Able City associate
and Sabrina Lopez, Able City community engagement coordinator.
Solis first went through a PowerPoint presentation. “We want to take you through a little bit of the history of the Paul Poag Theatre, which many of you probably already know, because for us it’s good to reinforce those concepts, and then I’ll pass it on to Mr. Montes to go through the restoration plans and show you
the next steps,” Solis said.
He said once the presentations were done, Able City representatives would open the floor
for feedback, questions and comments from audience members.
Architectural drawings of the planned theater renovations were set on easel stands on
tables along the walls of the community center. Sticky notes and pens were provided for
audience members to jot down comments and post them onto the drawings.
Solis said the feedback from the community would be included in the firm’s final report
on the theater, which will be presented to the Del Rio City Council.
Solis went over a brief history of the theater and the man for whom it was named.
History of Paul Poag
He said Poag moved to Del Rio in 1924 while he was working for the railroad. In 1928,
Poag opened the Princess Theater about a block south of the Paul Poag Theatre.
In 1941, the Rita Theater opened on the site of the current Paul Poag, Solis said.
He said the theater burned in 1943.
“If you go into the building right now, you can actually see some remembrance of that.
Some of the walls still have the char and smoke damage. The impressive thing is, they
rebuilt the theater in about seven months,” Solis said.
Poag died in the early 1950s, but his theater operated into the 1970s, when it was sold to
another theater group and finally closed 1979. The following year, the building’s owners,
John and Evelyn Prude, donated it to the city, which has owned it ever since. It has since
been used as a performing arts center and community event space.
“We want to make sure we thank the people who came before, because (the theater) was
just a movie house, but now it’s so much more than that,” Solis said.
What’s been done
Montes then made his presentation on the work Able City has done so far.
“We’ve done a site survey, where we’ve been able to locate the building utilities and all
the services that are around it. . . We’ve also figured out there are some utilities that need
restoration. We are also working and creating an assessment report, so we gathered a
team of engineers that walked through the building, took some pictures,” Montes said.
He said Able City’s report to the city will include four chapters: the history of the
building, a narrative and photos of the existing condition of the facility, visioning and
preliminary design and an urban and economic analysis “of how the theater will impact
the development of the community and the surrounding areas.”
Montes said Able City also used a subcontractor to create detailed 3-D scans of the inside
and the outside of the building. The final scans allow architects to virtually “walk” inside
and outside the facility and view details, much like Google Maps’ Street View feature.
“You can literally walk around (or inside) the building, do some exploration, so we know
what we’re getting ourselves into, we can see what’s there, we’re not just guessing, and
it’s very thorough,” Montes said.
Montes said Able City has also developed a set of construction documents for the theater.
He reviewed the “issues” the theater faces and which will be addressed in the restoration,
including fire suppression repairs, egress lighting exterior, electrical repairs, fire code
regulations, HVAC repairs, entrance canopy, fire department connection access, ADA
compliance and International Building Code compliance.
Montes said restoration work will be prioritized into several tiers, which include “code
compliant, maintenance upkeep and aesthetically pleasing” categories.
Montes reviewed the meetings Able City has had with the city and community
stakeholders, and said the company will present its report to the city in mid-March. He
said preliminary design will be completed in the third quarter of the year.
Lopez then went through what types of events have been held in the theater, including
plays, pageants, concerts, comedy shows as well as private events like weddings, parties,
recitals and graduations.
After Lopez spoke about how the theater had been and could be used, she addressed the
“guiding principles” that had been formulated to guide the restoration and led the
audience members in answering a series of survey questions.
Lopez said stakeholders also have expressed their opinions about various elements of the
theater that must be restored or improved, including parking, the restoration of the
building iconic front canopy, fencing, remediation of a restricted loading area, an exterior
water spout, more storage inside, closing off a fire riser in the concession area, lighting in
the balcony, restrooms for actors in the backstage area and a ‘green room,’ a waiting
room-type area for performers.
After her presentation, Lopez invited those attending the meeting to participate in another
survey. She asked everyone to scan a QR code provided to access the questions.
Community feedback
Attendees then could type answers to questions and Able City personnel displayed those
answers on-screen in real time.
Once the survey portion of the meeting concluded, Able City staffers fielded questions
from some of those attending.
Gloria Culpepper, a long-time member of The Upstagers community theater group, said she wanted to ask “The Question.”
“How soon for anything to be manifested that we can see?” Culpepper asked.
Solis said his team is working with the city and added, “I don’t want to put a date on it because we’re still working on the assessment report.”
Another audience member asked if there was a way the public could be informed of milestones in the theater restoration.
“It’s that absence of information that really breeds frustration,” he said.
Solis replied Able City will likely make a presentation to the city council in March.
“I think by then we’ll have a better idea of what those timeframes look like,” Solis said.
City Manager Shawna Burkhart asked about the walls of the building, and Solis replied, “Our structural engineer looked at that, and it’s in the report. He really didn’t find
anything that it was deteriorating in any way. The building’s bones are actually really
good. The roof was recently done, so from a structural perspective, the building is great.
From an electrical/mechanical perspective, there’s a lot to be done there.”
One woman in the audience asked what the budget was for the facility’s restoration, and
Burkhart replied, “It’s approximately $3.5 (million).”
Solis added part of Able City’s report would include a cost estimate for various portions
of the restoration.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com .
