With a little vision and a lot of work, the unfeeling fiscal reality of renovating Promised Valley Playhouse may be conquered by caring private and public benefactors. An organized consortium of donors could, perhaps in concert with taxpayers, raise the $24 million to $30 million necessary to restore the historic and cultural treasure. That would include seismic retrofitting. Salt Lake County should give such a scenario the chance to succeed before resorting to destroying the playhouse.
The fate of the facility rests with county commissioners following a formal recommendation from the Salt Lake County Fine Arts Advisory Board that it be restored. The board noted the facility's historic value, desirable size, good sightlines and ample rehearsal, storage and office space.While the commission must weigh those advantages against the price tag, it should remember that building a new similar-sized theater from the ground up would cost $18 million to $24 million. No one questions the need for such a facility. The question is whether to spend some additional money and retain one of the original theaters in Utah.
Though The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints currently owns Promised Valley, it has offered to relinquish it if county officials will take the project on. They ought to do so. Walking away from the theater, built in 1905, would be shortsighted. It has deep-seated sentimental and nostalgic value that could not be replicated by constructing anything similar.
A study in 1997 determined that Salt Lake County's current performing arts facilities -- Capitol Theatre, Abravanel Hall and the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center -- are inadequate for future growth and that the county needs a new mid-size theater. Ideally, it would be located downtown.
That sounds a lot like Promised Valley Playhouse. People throughout the county and beyond need to unite their efforts to preserve and renovate the grand old building.