|
The Gulfshore Playhouse added
about $37,500 to its hope chest Friday and unveiled plans
for a proposed 35,000-square-foot performing arts center with
a facade grand enough to recall the Greek Parthenon.
But going from rendering to reality depends on more than raising
money.
The theater project is the cultural anchor of a larger project
called Estero-on-the-River on the northeast corner of Corkscrew
Road and U.S. 41. The project has yet to come before Lee County
commissioners for rezoning approval.
Friday's money came from a $250-per-person spring gala to
support the new regional theater company, based in Estero.
The gala, starring stage and screen star Anna Maria Alberghetti,
was held Friday at Quail West Country Club. About 150 people
attended, said Kristen Coury, producing artistic director
for Gulfshore Playhouse.
Plans for the center, unveiled at the gala, include a 500-seat
main stage, 150-seat studio blackbox theater and a learning
institute with classes for all ages.
Plans also call for facade windows three stories high, and
a double staircases, one from either side of the theater lobby,
sweeping up to a balcony above, Coury said.
Westlake Reed Leskosky, of Cleveland, Ohio, was hired to design
the theater.
So far, a little more than $300,000 has been raised toward
the $20 million plus capital campaign goal, Coury said.
A former resident of New York City who has directed productions
there and in London, Coury is well-connected in the theater
world and has shown an ability to put together a bevy of fundraisers
within the past year.
Other fundraising events have featured Carol Lawrence, movie
and theater star Carol Channing, Broadway star Brian Lane
Green and a charity golf tournament at Tiburon Golf Club.
REZONING NEEDED
The D'Jamoos Group Ltd is planning the mixed-use development.
The Gulfshore Playhouse will be on acreage donated by Land
Development Group, LLC, an affiliate of The D'Jamoos Group,
Ltd.
However, donation of the land for the playhouse depends on
whether the project gets rezoned.
Coury said Friday before the gala that she is not worried
about putting so much time and effort into the playhouse project
when the rezoning hasn't been approved yet.
She is confident about the rezoning, because she says the
developer is confident.
"There's about no chance it can't go through," according
to D'Jamoos, she said.
It's a matter of hammering out agreements between D'Jamoos
and the Estero community, she said.
"It's not an issue of the whole project at this point.
It's down to a few details."
Joe D'Jamoos, president of The D'Jamoos Group, was matter-of-fact
when asked about spending time and money on a project that
isn't yet set in concrete.
"The chances of zoning is a risk that we're all taking.
Why would she go with this? Because this is what we've planned
to do — all the design work, architecture work, to get
it zoned," he said.
County planner Chip Block said until Lee County commissioners
vote on any zoning case, he doesn't know what will be approved.
"In almost all instances, I advise (applicants) the chance
of being approved is 50-50 because we have to go through the
entire process," he said.
The rezoning process includes submission of an application,
staff review and recommendation, public input and a hearing
examiner recommendation, then the commissioners' final decision.
He said the D'Jamoos application for Estero on the River has
been sent back three times because it didn't provide sufficient
information for county staff to make a recommendation.
APPLICATION SUBMITTED
Betsy D'Jamoos, chief operating officer of the company, said
Friday that the fourth revised application was submitted Wednesday.
The vision of the D'Jamoos company is to develop Estero on
the River as a culturally anchored, walkable village in the
heart of Estero, she said.
The project is planned for 85 acres that will be purchased
from the College of Life Foundation, a nonprofit group now
on the site.
Charles Dauray, College of Life Foundation chairman and chief
executive officer, has pledged $250,000 to the playhouse project
if the rezoning goes through.
Commissioner Ray Judah has said he does not support development
along the Estero River at the northeast corner of U.S. 41
and Corkscrew Road.
He cannot speak about pending zoning cases but on Friday said
he still feels the same way.
Neal Noethlich, chairman of the Estero Community Planning
Panel, said when the property was originally proposed by Charles
Dauray as Riverplace, it prompted an outcry for preservation.
Conservation 20/20, the county's land buying program, opted
not to buy a portion of the land Dauray offered.
Now, Noethlich said, he isn't hearing the same preservation
outcry about D'Jamoos' proposal.
"I haven't seen anything that would indicate there's
a reasonable chance it's going to end up in public hands,"
he said. "If it can't be preserved and it's not going
to be preserved, my duty is to try to get the best (development)
we can. I don't think (rezoning) is a slam-dunk, but I don't
see any movement against it.
|
