Special Board of Aldermen 09-28-2020 Page 22
Mr. Teeboom | am glad you got control over this public meeting. | thought you had lost it. My name is
Fred Teeboom and | reside at 24 Cheyenne Drive. I'd like to speak in favor of R-20-071 especially,
specifically the $5.5 million dollar additional funding for the Performance Arts Center. As many of you
know, | was very much against the original Performance Arts Center proposed by the Webb Study for
many reasons not the least the deathtrap design of placing the Performance Theater on the second floor of
the building. Furthermore, the original estimate for the project included an unsubstantiated low ball building
construction cost estimate of $11.5 million dollars that ignored totally the detailed professional estimate by
Fennesy Consulting who was hired specifically to conduct a Webb study cost estimate and that came to
$16.4 million dollars. In other words the PAC, the project was underfunded by $5 million dollars at the very
beginning. Then some wonderful things happened. The City contracted with an outstanding New England
Architectural Firm, ICON Architects. ICON immediately dispensed the deathtrap second floor design
concept and through many iterations working productively, with the PAC steering committee, | attended a
number of those meetings, came up with an exciting and very versatile design.
The City also contracted with Spectacle Management an experienced theater manager who agreed to
operate the PAC for $1.00 a year, thus eliminating the need for $4 million dollar endowment fund to
subsidize operations. There was one condition that the seating capacity of the theater be increased from
the 550 seats in the Webb Study to 750 seats to make the PAC economically viable for the operator. The
total project as presented tonight now stands at $25 million dollars. There is $4 million dollars anticipated
from tax credits and private donations and with the City’s original $15.5 million dollar funding this project is
still $5.5 million dollars short., nearly equal the $5 million dollar deficit of the original budget that | earlier
mentioned. Given the current detailed design stage, construction can and should be contracted for
guaranteed maximum price that the construction manager, Harvey Construction, a very competent
organization.
One final note that | can make, | am now an elderly citizen and speaking for the seniors. We need a
comfortable and convenient place to go. We do not go to discos or we don’t go to many private parties to
meet and mingle, and we pay a lot of taxes. With its roof top terrace and variable configuration from the
intimate black box theater to 750 seat grand theater to a 1,000 standing room concerts, to private
banquets, with close parking access, this venue now designed and proposed to be constructed is ideal for
us seniors. And | intend to purchase a season pass. | therefore urge you to adopt R-20-071. Thank you.
Chairman Dowd
Thank you, Mr. Teeboom. | have Lisa Work? Lisa?
Lisa Bissonnette Thank you. My name is Lisa Bissonnette | work at 30 Temple Street in Nashua, New
Hampshire for a real estate development company. | am also the Chair of City Arts Nashua which is an arts
non-profit here in Nashua. | wanted to speak in favor of the issue before you this evening. We have been
enthusiastic supporters of the project from the very beginning and have followed all of the progress that Mr.
Teeboom just outlined with interest and with support. We would love to just commend the City of Nashua,
the various vendors and consultants that have partnered with Nashua and most especially the Capital
Campaign Committee and all of those volunteers who are working so hard to raise the money and who
have had tremendous success in doing so, in pretty difficult circumstances, especially now.
We totally understand how TIF Increment Financing works. We have seen it successfully used many other
places and honestly have wondered why it hasn’t been more utilized in downtown Nashua. So it’s great to
see that creativity and that idea come forward. | love to see that, Tim — thank you for suggesting that. And
we really would love to see that happen. We are eager to roll up our sleeves and get it done and | am
looking forward to buying a season pass as well. Thank you.
Chairman Dowd
Thank you. OK | have Rich Lannan.
