ROANOKE, Va – Whether it’s entertainment in Shaftman Performance Hall, students learning in the music lab or non-profits getting a bit of a break in their office space, the Jefferson Center is a part of the fabric of today’s Roanoke.
But the iconic building goes back a whole century.
“Jefferson had a terrific football team. We would beat Andrew Lewis every damn year,” mused Warner Dalhouse who has a rich history with the building both as a student, from the days when the building was Roanoke’s predominant high school and later as a fundraiser.
And there are many people in the Dalhouse Camp.
“I was very honored to be homecoming queen that year,” said alumnae Verlyne Simmons Key, as she pages through the 1960 yearbook.
Simmons Key says she and her fellow graduates still stay in touch, because of their experience at the school.
“It’s just we all have that feeling that this is a special place. And we want to make sure it stays,” she said.
And when it comes to the programming of the events in Shaftman Performance Hall, the people running the Jefferson Center want the same thing.
Jamie Cheatwood, who books the entertainment for the Center, says that last year, the venue had the best attendance ever.
Cheatwood says there has been a conscious effort to find shows that appeal to a younger audience to augment the patronage of older supporters who may be more attracted to mainstays such as classical music and dance.
“It’s gone very well. We’ve seen over a 50% increase in attendees ages 19 to 35 in the last couple of years,” Cheatwood said.
From high school to community center and arts venue
The home to the Magicians had sat empty for years after the school closed.
But, in the 1980s at the behest of city council, a group formed to see if it could be saved. The group was headed by Dalhouse, who at the time was CEO of Dominion Bank.
“There were elements in the community - even on city council who thought it would be better just to tear it down,” Dalhouse remembers.
Dalhouse and other leading businesspeople evolved a model where classrooms would be converted into office space for community organizations.
Fitzpatrick Hall emerged from what was once the auto shop and finally, Shaftman Performance Hall became a home for musical and artistic performances. Three separate capital fundraising campaigns, stretching about a decade raised nearly 20 million dollars.
But now, the building is once again showing its age – for the most part, in places the public doesn’t see.
Buckets on the fourth floor are used mostly for catching water from the leaky roof before it leaks into the public space below. Blue tarps cover sections of the roof to give the buckets a fighting chance.
Cyrus Pace, executive director of Jefferson Center pointed out places on the roof, where the building is becoming threadbare.
“So this is just an example of some of the patching we do of course over time to make sure his little water as possible gets through,” Pace said.
Pace estimates that more than a million people have attended events at the Center over the last three decades. But he says ticket sales and rent from tenants only cover operating expenses.
There was no budget for long-term maintenance of things like heating and cooling, the fire alarm system, and a smoke evacuation unit for the atrium, which has rusted through to the point insulation is exposed to the open air.
Engineers estimate the building needs six million dollars worth of TLC.
“What basically happened is this building did exactly what it was supposed to do for the community. And we just now we’re getting to that point where the lifespan of many of the systems that are supporting what we do here Are at their age point. They’ve lived their life basically,” Pace said.
Serving today’s generation
Brian Waites plays a few chords on a keyboard in the Center’s music lab, where Roanoke school kids from middle through high school learn how to write and record their music in a legitimate studio setting.
“And that’s pretty much how we write songs here at the music lab,” Waites says, looking up from his demonstration. The program has had far-reaching effects according to Waites, even launching several successful careers, like beat maker Stimulator Jones.
If Dalhouse and Simmons Key are the old guards, who look back fondly at their time either as a student, community leaders or both, Waites and Cheatwood represent the present and perhaps the future.
“I hope the city and the people who live here, not just the alumni will continue to support the Jefferson Center,” Simmons Key said.
When asked if the city council would continue to support Jefferson Center, Dalhouse said it is a no-brainer.
“Well, they own it. Why would you have a 111,000 square-foot building it’s already had almost $20 million invested in it go to pot?”
“If this music lab did not exist, there would be no place in Roanoke to pretty much cultivate musicians anymore,” Waites said.
And Pace has to find a way to keep the lights on, and the music playing.
“I don’t see a path pathway forward at this juncture that doesn’t include a change in more collaborative relationship with the city of Roanoke,” Pace said.
The Jefferson Center’s Capital Needs Assessment - Late 2023
In a Capital Needs Assessment presented to the Roanoke City Council, leaders detail the renovations needed, the costs that are ahead as well as the center’s impact on Roanoke’s economy.
According to the assessment, the center requires more than six million dollars – $6,016,145 to be exact – to cover their critical needs recommended for immediate remediation. The building hasn’t been renovated since the 1980s while Shaftman Hall last saw upgrades in the 1990s.
To back their requests, leaders noted that each person who attends an entertainment event at the center typically pays $32.28. Multiply that by 35,382 patrons, and $1.14 million is driven to Roanoke’s economy from those performances alone.
You can read the assessment, which was presented to the council in late 2023, below.
You can visit the Jefferson Center’s website by clicking here.