A Marquee Rises On College Street

by Brian Slattery | Mar 1, 2015 12:45 pm

At 9:30 a.m. Saturday, a moment 12 years in the making approached, as a crew put up the first part of the new marquee for the College Street Music Hall, formerly the Palace Theater.

“It’s still got to come another half-inch,” called one of the workmen. “Whoa! That’s a big-ass half inch!”

The marquee lifting was the latest sign that, after more than a decade in mothballs, the Palace Theater is on track to reopen May 1 as the 2,000-seat-capacity College Street Music Hall, restoring a live-music venue across the street from the Shubert. The hall has already booked its first shows in early May. The Machine will perform the music of Pink Floyd with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra on May 1. Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt are slated for an acoustic double bill on May 2. Polaris and Mates of State follow up on May 9.

The workmen secured the first section of the marquee.

The next pieces waited on a delivery truck.

And under the marquee itself.

Renovating the Palace Theater into the College Street Music Hall almost didn’t happen because of friction from Yale over a proposed easement. Then the project’s developers figured out they didn’t need an easement from the university to proceed.

Today work was hampered a bit by a BMW parked in a spot that the crew had reserved for their vehicles.

“I can’t wait until this guy with the Beamer shows up,” one of the workmen said, mostly joking. “I got a lot of pent-up anger to unload onto him.” He mentioned that it had cost the crew over $800 to secure the permits for the work.

The crew called the police to have the car towed. The police were happy to oblige. One officer mentioned that he would tow cars parked in spots reserved for construction “all day,” especially given that the signs had gone up the night before.

“I think the guy thought it was reserved for him,” one of the workmen said.

“Probably,” the officer said.