Bristol officials say Pastime Theatre in deplorable condition

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Friday, January 20, 2006

Bristol,RI

http://www.eastbayri.com/story/285219903936242.php

Bristol officials say Pastime Theatre in deplorable condition

Public works employees erected sawhorses around the Pastime

Theatre's marquee Wednesday morning. Officials fear it could

collapse.

BRISTOL - When the Town of Bristol took back title to the former

Pastime Theatre Tuesday, officials got much more than they say they

bargained for, including decaying walls, rusty equipment, unsafe

levels of mold and water feet deep in the basement.

Now the town plans to call in a structural engineer to see if the

badly deteriorated building can even be saved.

" Boy, this is really bad, " said Bristol Public Works Director Fred

Serbst Wednesday morning, holding a flashlight and camera as he

headed down a flight of stairs to the 1934 building's sub-basement.

" Smell that mold? It's everywhere. "

Walking through the building, Mr. Serbst and his companions, Bristol

Police Chief S. Serpa and Water Pollution Control

Superintendent Matt Calderiso, saw many things that gave them pause.

The building has several large cracks on exterior walls. The

skeleton holding up the marquee looks like it could fail, said Mr.

Serbst. There is a thick coating of mold on nearly every interior

surface. And there is water as much as four to five feet deep in the

basement, and more in other rooms.

" It's in really tough shape, " said Mr. Serbst, snapping photographs

on a point and shoot camera as he went along.

Town takes it back

The inspection came almost exactly 24 hours after the town " bought "

the building at auction from its former owner, the Bristol Pastime

Theatre Foundation, which purchased it two years ago with a $350,000

town loan. The Bristol Town Council voted last fall to call in the

loan and give the building to the school department for use in the

Colt s School renovation and expansion project.

Town officials said they expected the building would be in

reasonable condition when it was handed over, but Bristol Town

Council Chairman Ruggiero said he was rudely surprised when

he took a quick peek at the interior minutes after Tuesday's auction

ended.

" I couldn't believe it, " he said. " I'm very disappointed in the way

they've allowed the building to deteriorate. They should have taken

pride in that building. "

Mr. Ruggiero said he was advised by Mr. Serbst to call in a

structural engineer to assess the building. He also said he will

broach the matter at next Wednesday's town council meeting.

" The bottom line is we have to take the building the way it is, " he

said. " But it shouldn't be in this condition. Who knows if we can

even keep it up? "

'Good money after bad'

On Wednesday, Pastime foundation board of directors member

Vaughan said he had anticipated the town's response.

While he acknowledged the building's poor condition, he said, " we

didn't do a whole lot of maintenance because we were basically going

to be gutting the place. The board voted to not throw good money

after bad. "

Mr. Vaughan said the last time any substantive maintenance was done

on the building was in mid-2004, shortly after the foundation held

its last public function at the building. Since then, he said,

Pastime officials have monitored the building's condition but have

done little else.

" I repaired some of the roof leaks myself, " he said. " But we were

planning to gut the entire building. "

Then, when the town council made clear its goal of re-claiming the

building late last year, maintenance became secondary.

" With this thing hanging over our heads (the mortgage recall), " we

didn't do a whole lot. "

As for the town's negative reaction to the building's condition, he

said, " we knew they were going to try to vilify us. We saw this

coming. "

On Wednesday, Mr. Ruggiero said the town's next step is to hear back

from structural engineers and other experts. Given the extent of the

building's mold and water problems, he said, he wonders if it might

be safer and more cost-effective to tear it down than to try to

clean it up and repair it. As for the foundation's decision to

forego maintenance, he said, " that's unconscionable. "

" I don't buy that. Regardless of what your plans are, you have a

responsibility to keep the building up and maintain it. I have a

difficult time accepting (Mr. Vaughan's) reasoning. "

Now that the town has clear ownership of the building, the school

department is expected to send out a request for proposals from

architectural firms to help with the property's transformation into

a school. There are still many questions left unanswered, including

whether the building itself can be saved and whether the marquee, if

the building remains, will have to go.

By Ted

thayes@...