The Gloucester Center for the Performing Arts

FORUM: The G.G. Green Building as a Performing Arts Center

The G.G. Green building, and its role in the redevelopment of downtown Woodbury, is once again the subject of much discussion. While nearby communities have developed thriving downtowns through investments in their arts and infrastructure, Woodbury’s one-time arts hub sits vacant and deteriorating after two failed redevelopment efforts in the past decade. Today, another team is trying to revitalize the theater, and the heart of the city. Come learn about their plans, about their goals, and about the numerous challenges they face in their efforts to bring first class arts to downtown.

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The Gloucester County Times Online edition of Gloucester's Daily Newspaper

Rowan University students weigh in on plans for G.G. Green Building in Woodbury

Tuesday, December 22, 2009
By Christina Paciolla
cpaciolla@sjnewsco.com

WOODBURY Rowan M.B.A. students have lent their expertise to the economic studies of the G.G. Green Building, a vacant spot on South Broad Street whose fate rests in the hands of Brian Wolfson of the Tricon Development Group.

Wolfson announced plans this year to transform the building into a performing arts theater. Students from the Rohrer College of Business M.B.A. program used the G.G. Green Building as their consulting project.

"What we found is that a theater brings money into the local economy above and beyond the spending of the theater," said M.B.A. student Glenn Reigel, of Cherry Hill.

Reigel was part of a four-person group that did the study on the G.G. Green Building. He will be the spokesperson about his group's findings at a Gloucester County Times-hosted forum on Jan. 13 to talk about the future of the building.

Earlier this fall, Wolfson had contacted Robert LaMastro, professor of the capstone class for the M.B.A. program. Wolfson sat down with students and analyzed data with them. The students then did their own analysis of the financial impact a theater would have on Woodbury.

"It's very positive," Wolfson said. "The impact is very significant."

The study measured how much money someone would spend beyond a theater ticket; this includes dinner, drinks and shopping. The figure achieved by students was an average of over $2 million a year.

"We came up with a range the audience would spend from $800,000 to $3 million a year is what you could expect from the type of theater and audience that would be drawn from the G.G. Green Building," said Reigel.

Reigel and fellow students used a national study and analyzed other cities similar to Woodbury with theaters having been built in them. They also talked to business owners and people involved in the Broadway Theatre in Pitman and the Keswick in Glenside, Pa.

"There's a significant positive economic impact from the theater being built in the community," Reigel said.

Reigel, along with Bob Melvin, the City of Woodbury Redevelopment Planner, and several others will speak at the forum at 7 p.m. on Jan. 13 at the ceremonial court room on Delaware Avenue and Broad Street in the city. The economic impact study will be discussed as well as an action plan for the building.

"This data would interest residents, business owners, commercial property owners, the government," Wolfson said. "Anybody who is interested in economic vitality would have an interest in what these students have done."
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Growth the focus for this year at Woodbury reorganization meeting

Tuesday, January 05, 2010
By John Barna jbarna@sjnewsco.com

WOODBURY A traffic "calming" project along Broad Street in the city's downtown area reducing two lanes of traffic in each direction to one may be in place this year. Council President C. Barry Sloane, in remarks at council's 139th reorganization meeting Monday night, noted the project is currently being designed by the state Department of Transportation.

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Collingswood

The ten-year turnaround
By Zachary Herrmann

When looking at SJ’s success stories of the last 10 years, no place stands out more than the borough of Collingswood. Since the turn of the millennium, fine dining and theater have flourished. Concerts, book festivals, craft fairs and a farmers’ market have brought in a slew of residents. Before the recession hit, property values had soared. For many SJ towns and areas looking to improve, “Collingswood” has become a buzzword, a lofty standard to aspire to.

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FORUM: Gloucester County Voices

As the lead developer, I want to thank everyone who came to the forum on Woodbury’s G.G. Green Building redevelopment project on Jan. 13, braving the cold — and the security procedures at the Gloucester County courthouse — to learn more about the project. The fact that more than 200 local residents came tells me that there is great interest in seeing this project move forward.

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FORUM: Woodbury to hold forum concering building project

WOODBURY City residents can get their questions answered about the G.G. Green Building's potential transformation into a performing arts center at a special forum on Wednesday.

Tricon Development Group, the company behind the proposed center, will send its team to Nicolosi Caterers on Hessian Avenue in West Deptford Township where staff will answer questions on the group's plans for downtown.