Expansion At The Woodland Opera House

Left: (Sacramento Bee caption) - Jeff Kean is packing up his office of 12 years at the Woodland Opera House to make way for the expansion of the Main Street facility. (Sacramento Bee/Jose Luis Villegas)

(Marc Valdez caption) - Jeff Kean says: "I'm really going to miss this office."


Left: (Sacramento Bee caption) - Jeff Kean, executive director of the Woodland Opera House, surveys the stage earlier this week. Kean is giving up his office for the expansion, which will include a new performing arts center for young people in the courtyard next to the opera house. The seating and stage will not be affected by the work. (Sacramento Bee/José Luis Villegas)

(Marc Valdez caption) - "Wait...right here would be the perfect place for an office!"


Left: (Sacramento Bee caption) - An artist's rendering of the Woodland Opera House expansion project, including a small theater for youth productions, a dance studio and box office. (McCandless & Associates Architects)

(Marc Valdez caption) Hardly any room for shrubbery, but that means more seats!



A nice article in today's Bee regarding the expansion plans at the Woodland Opera House! It's remarkable, actually, how much cooperation has been required between the City of Woodland and the State of California to bring the project to this stage:

Surrounded by mementos and photographs, Jeff Kean is ready to pack up his office of 12 years at the Woodland Opera House to make way for a larger ladies' restroom.

It's a small price to pay to expand the historic landmark after nearly two decades of waiting, said Kean, opera house executive director.

The Woodland Opera House is set to undergo an estimated $2.2 million expansion, which includes a new performing arts center for young people.

A courtyard next to the opera house in Woodland's downtown will provide a small theater for youth productions, a dance studio and classroom, offices, improved restroom facilities and a box office accessible from the street.

The project will be funded by a half-cent sales tax extension approved in June 2006 by Woodland voters.

Kean said designs should be ready for City Council and state review within the next two months. If everything goes well, construction would start by spring of 2008, he said.

"This will hopefully go a little faster than last time," Kean said of the building's seven-year restoration during the 1980s.

...There also were questions about using city sales tax dollars to pay for opera house additions, City Councilman Art Pimentel said.

"I am very much opposed to the fact that we are going to spend city tax dollars on state property," Pimentel said, adding that extension of the half-cent sales tax measure passed after much compromise.

Measure E, which secured 64 percent of the vote, also includes funding over the next 12 years for roads, a community and senior center, parks, a swimming pool, library and City Hall expansion.

Projects are estimated to cost $67.2 million, with an allocation of $3 million to the opera house, according to a city report.

Pimentel said he is uneasy about handing the money over to the Woodland Opera House trustees and not having city oversight on how it will be spent.

A report from the Woodland Opera House shows that $1.5 million will be spent on constructing the performing arts center and $700,000 on buying fixtures and furnishings. When asked about the remaining funds, Kean said money will be used to pay interest on a bank loan that will be secured to jump-start construction.

The new performing arts youth center is expected to draw more patrons from throughout the Sacramento region to downtown Woodland by boosting opera house events from 31 to 48 weekends a year. The youth theater will provide a more intimate setting, seating 100 people. Youth programs are expected to double, providing more classes and youth performances.

On a recent afternoon, Kean sat at a cluttered desk, answering phone calls from people wanting tickets to the next big show -- Disney's "High School Musical."

"The reality is, the opera house belongs to Woodland," Kean said. "We will be able to serve a lot more kids, and no one is against that."