Jefferson Theater seeks to return to musical roots

The Jefferson Theater is trying to get back to its roots.

Owners of the Downtown Mall theater filed a request for a special-use permit to turn the one-time movie theater into a live music venue. During its Tuesday meeting, the Charlottesville Board of Architectural Review swiftly recommended that the request be approved.

“I don’t imagine a more sympathetic use for a thea-ter,” said board member Brian Hogg.

Permit approval will be discussed by the city’s Planning Commission next week and will ultimately be voted on by the City Coun-cil.

In an interview, project manager Kirby Hutto said, “Our project is to really take it back to live per-formance, which is what it was built for.” The Jefferson Theater opened in 1912, making it Charlottesville’s oldest theater.

Since the closures of Satellite Ballroom in May and Starr Hill Music Hall last year, many say the area is desperate for a similar spot.

Independent promoter Jeyon Falsini, who books shows around Charlottesville, said lacking a mid-sized venue has definitely hurt the city’s music scene.

“We thought it was going to be bad, and it sure enough has been,” said Falsini, who used to book small acts at Starr Hill and did one at Satellite before it closed.

Falsini noted that the shows that do come to Charlottesville are doing well — and there has been a resurgence at the city’s free venues — but the repertoire is less diverse.

“It’s kind of insular right now because we’re not bringing a lot of people from out of town,” he said.

The Jefferson Theater, Hutto said, could serve as the much-needed replacement.

“The nice thing is that this will be downtown, close to the Pavilion, close to the Paramount, close to all the other entertainment op-tions,” said Hutto, who also manages the Pavilion. “You’ll have that sort of critical mass.”

Mary Joy Scala, Charlottesville’s preservation and design planner, said special-use permits are needed because dance halls are not allowed by right in those zoning districts. Scala said the architectural board recently reviewed another application concerning the Jefferson Theater, but it was to make exterior changes.

“At that point they weren’t concerned what the use would be,” Scala said in an interview.

The Jefferson Theater closed in June 2006 for renovations, two months after former owner Hawes Spencer sold the theater to music mogul Coran Cap-shaw. Since then, Hutto said the building has been going through extensive renovation, such as updat-ing the building’s archaic mechanical systems.

“The current air conditioning system dates to the 1930s,” Hutto said.

The theater also needs more space to accommodate the venue’s proposed 700 to 750 capacity. Hutto said extra space in the base-ment will be created by excavating under the audi-torium.

During a recent visit to the Jefferson Theater, Spencer, who operated it for 14 years, said he liked how renovations will ulti-mately scale the building back so its original features stand out.

“It’s nice to see it stripped back to as much of the original stuff as possi-ble,” Spencer said.

Hutto said he hopes con-struction of the dance hall will start in the next 30 days, with an opening planned for next Septem-ber.

Until the theater opens again, Hutto said the own-ers want to bring a similar venue to Preston Avenue as a temporary site. Architec-tural board members sub-sequently approved a special-use permit for this venue, at 608 Preston Ave. Board members noted that increased parking capacity needs to be addressed — as the temporary venue is projected to have a capacity of 400 to 500 people — in addition to safety equipment such as rails and handicapped ramps.

Though the project is still in its early design phases, Hutto said he hopes it will open this fall to fill the gap in the city’s live music spaces.

“Charlottesville needs a mid-sized nightclub venue,” he said.