Harris & Associates Brings Tracy's Grand Theatre Back to Life
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October 26, 2007
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TRACY, CA – The City of Tracy is once again welcoming visitors into its’ “Grand Theatre” after a two and a half-year renovation and construction project, managed by Harris & Associates, comes to a close.
The newly renovated Grand Theatre Center for the Arts is a $14 million facility at the corner of 7th and Central in downtown Tracy. During the project several existing buildings from the 1900’s were combined with construction of a new building. The Grand Theatre Center for the Arts is now under one roof with a total of 39,000 square feet of space. Work included a complete renovation of the proscenium theatre with balcony and box seating and the construction of a new 100-seat “Black-Box” studio theatre for smaller performances.
Harris & Associates was selected by the City of Tracy to provide project management services for the adaptive reuse construction project. Specific features include:
- A new touch-screen operated rigging system, which operates curtains, lights and stage scenery
- An internal dome with more than a thousand fiber-optic lights in a starscape pattern
- Acoustically treated music rehearsal classrooms, catwalks, and dressing rooms serving both theatres
- Concession and circulation areas, dance studio with cushioned hardwood floors
- Art gallery spaces, art classrooms, and a ceramics studio with two electric and one gas fired kilns
- And a children’s studio with all of the amenities built down where the budding artists can access them with ease
The complex also has a “Loggia” with a sunshade trellis that acts as a sundial on the floor during certain times of the day throughout the year and a brand new marquee and tower with neon lights and changeable type.
“During the renovation I was inspired by voices from the past and compelled by voices from the future to make this a successful project,” said Brad Chadwick, CBO, AVS, Harris Construction Manager and Associate. “I talked with people who had actually attended this theatre before it closed in 1977. There was a lot of history here for members of the community and I knew this was an important project to them. It was a privilege working with the City of Tracy and I know the residents will enjoy this theatre and arts complex for generations to come.”
In recent years the theatre and adjacent buildings had sat idle and used only as a storage facility. Today it is once again a gathering place and destination in the community of Tracy.
Founded in 1974, Harris is a professional services firm with a staff of over 450 employee-owners. Since our inception, our program managers, construction managers, architects, and engineers have been serving the specialized planning, design, and construction management needs of our public and institutional clients. contact Marie Shockley at (925) 827-4900, ext. 1202, or email mshockley@harris-assoc.com.
*Photo provided as a courtesy by THE TRACY PRESS.