From left to right – Sam Teresi, Mayor of City of Jamestown; Tom Benson, Chairman of National Comedy Center; Vince DeJoy, Director of Development of City of Jamestown
JAMESTOWN – The effort to create a National Comedy Center in Jamestown has cleared another major hurdle.
Officials with the National Comedy Center and the City of Jamestown have agreed to terms on the purchase of a city-owned building and adjacent land at the intersection of Washington Street and West Second St.
The acquired property will be used for the purpose of developing and operating the National Comedy Center.
The purchase will allow the center to reuse and expand of the former BPU power station on the corner of Washington and 2nd Street to provide the total square feet needed for attraction space, construction of a connecting walkway to the East Wing of the Jamestown Gateway Train Station, the creation of a pedestrian walkway from Second Street to the comedy center park near the Chadakoin River, and the creation of a green courtyard outside the entrance to the attraction.
Officials say the total NCC exhibit space will be approximately 35,000 square feet.
An artist’s rendering of the proposed National Comedy Center in downtown Jamestown.
Fair market value for the acquired properties totals $130,000 and closing is slated to take place this summer, when the Project has completed fund raising and has received site plan approval and necessary building permits.
Construction is targeted to begin in August, and the National Comedy Center is projected to open in the summer of 2016.
The National Comedy Center is designed to be a national attraction based on the celebration of comedy: the craft and its contributors, and embodies Lucille Ball’s vision for her hometown of Jamestown.
A recent economic impact study found that the project would have an estimated $23 million annual economic impact on the region, resulting from a projected 114,000 visitors.
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