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Journal/Sam Green
Jeff Pope, executive director of Community Radio Project, stands in front of the Montezuma Valley National Bank building. CRP was awarded a $240,000 grant this week from the State Historical Fund to preserve and restore the building, which will house KSJD Community Radio’s studios, an 80-seat performance venue, an oral history recording studio and 800 square feet of prime office space. Volunteers of the Cornerstone Committee are leading the effort to raise money locally to match the state’s grant. They are Kristine Nunn, Chris Burkett, Marianne Mate, Marianne Griffin, Amber Kelley, Bill Stanley, Frank Lister and Karen Childress. |
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KSJD radio lays Cornerstone
Hope Nealson
Journal Staff Writer
A "green" downtown project in Cortez will receive more than $240,000 that could balloon as high as $320,000 with matching donations.
The Colorado Historical Society announced Monday that it plans to grant the Community Radio Project $240,442 out of the State Historic Fund to preserve and rehabilitate the Montezuma Valley National Bank building, also known as the Basin Industrial Bank building. The Community Radio Project will use the funds for the Cornerstone project, which focuses on the historic downtown building.
"There are a lot of people who have worked hard to make downtown vibrant, and we're just following in their footsteps," said Community Radio Project Executive Director Jeff Pope, who works on the local nonprofit project along with an eight-person Cornerstone committee.
Cornerstone officials will use the money first to rehabilitate the building, which will house KSJD's studios, office and a media center, Pope said. Similar to DCTV in Dove Creek, the facility will be able to handle all locally produced, over-the-air television and radio.
"One of the things the historical society loves is when you take an old building and turn it into a place where people can come for modern usage. They don't want it to just become a museum piece," Pope said, noting the space measures about 2,500 square feet, including the basement.
The eastern part of the building eventually will house an 80-seat performance venue and an 800-square-foot mezzanine, slated to begin construction in 2011.
"If you have ever been in that room, the ceilings are 21-feet high, which is high enough for a mezzanine, so that's where the office space will go," he said. "Below that will be the performance venue, to do concerts and theater right in downtown Cortez."
Cornerstone officials are starting with the exterior first so people can see results fast, Pope said.
"We want to show the community and people who are visiting how much we care," he said. "So by starting with the outside of the building, we're providing an opportunity for people to see it and say, 'Wow, these people really care about their heritage.'"
The "scope of work," including details like what gets preserved, what color paint to use, and the best way to return the building to its period, still need to be determined, Pope said.
"Those are the details we work out with the state," he said. "We also have to raise $80,000 locally to match this funding from the state. We have to raise the money, or they don't fork over the $240,000."
For every local dollar donated, the State Historic Fund will donate three dollars, Pope said. This isn't the first time the state has given money for the project, which is designed to be one of the greenest in Colorado in terms of conservation, recycling, reduction and energy generation.
"We have a long-standing relationship with the State Historical Fund, and this is the third grant they have made to the Cornerstone project, the first time giving $13,000 and $157,000 the second," Pope said. "Here in the community, we raised $52,000 to match their $157,000, so it was a 25 percent match and with that we bought the Montezuma National Bank building in September of 2009."
Pope isn't worried about raising another $80,000 for the multitenant, nonprofit center.
"This community, the Montezuma County, Southwest Colorado community, has a long history of rising to the challenge when there is need," he said. "We are going to continue to approach individual and business donors in the community who want to see downtown Cortez continue to become a hub of activity and a place of economic growth."
The Colorado Historical Society, which awarded more than $7.8 million to projects around the state, also awarded the Mancos Opera House $50,129 for window replacement and roof repair.
For more information, visit www.buildcornerstone.org or call 564-9727.
Reach Hope Nealson at hopen@cortezjournal.com.
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