HEADLINES:
Kiel Reborn!
Posted on September 13, 2011
Chris McKee has heard plenty of stories. It comes with the territory.
When you serve as one of the midwives in the rebirth of the former Kiel Opera House, a St. Louis landmark dripping with history, people like to take a turn down memory lane.
Fans of Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, The Doors and The Rolling Stones have personal stories to share about the acts that have warmed the luminous Kiel Opera House stage.
McKee, who has spent the last three years spearheading the $78.8 million renovation and refurbishing of the venerable St. Louis landmark, has heard many of the tales.
But he hadn't heard this one.
The year was 1982. A group of rock fans from Washington piled into cars and headed east to hear JD Blackfoot record a live album at the sold-out Kiel Opera House. The show was sponsored by KSHE 95 and the fans were fired up. Everyone who attended the show would have the opportunity to have their names listed on the inside of the album cover.
According to lore, JD was standing beside a St. Louis city official just prior to walking on stage. The man held a decibel meter in his hand. JD asked him what he was doing and the man said he was there representing the city and that by law, if the band played too loud, he had the right to make the band turn down the volume.
The announcer said to the audience: "St. Louis, please welcome one of our all-time favorites, JD Blackfoot," The ensuing roar broke the city official's decibel meter. The official looked at JD and said, "Never mind."
"When you think of the old Kiel, you think of class," Paul Beuke of Washington said. "When you walked into the place you felt like you were in some place special. The ornate wood, the marble staircases, the place was steeped in history. You could feel it."
Beuke got his name on the album. He also witnessed a powerful performance.
"It was intense. The crowd was really into it because we were part of a live recording. I particularly remember the ‘Song of Crazyhorse.' It wasn't an ordinary show or recording," Beuke reminisced.
The stories inspire McKee. He is ready to create some new memories in the old Kiel.
The meticulously restored building will officially reopen Oct. 1 as the Peabody Opera House with performances by "The Queen of Soul" Aretha Franklin and comedian Jay Leno.
After about three years of planning and another 16 months of painstaking renovation, and almost 20 years to the day after it was shuttered, the opera house is making a comeback. McKee can't wait.
"Our goal is to make the Peabody a destination just like it used to be in its heyday," McKee, president of Optimus Development, said in July. "A lot of people have worked tirelessly over the past four years to make that happen despite some very challenging economic times. Many people deserve credit, especially my dad, Paul, my brother, Joe, Dave Checketts and (St. Louis) Mayor Francis Slay."
Checketts is the chairman of the St. Louis Blues and CEO/chairman of SCP Worldwide, a sports, media and entertainment production investment group based out of New York City. The company acquired the Blues and leases for the Scotttrade Center (formerly Kiel Auditorium) and the Peabody - which is attached to it - in 2006.
While the old Kiel Auditorium was torn down in 1992 and replaced by the modern Scotttrade Center two years later, the opera house remained dormant, collecting dust.
The fate of the historic downtown performing arts and cultural center remained in limbo until Checketts took over the hockey club. Checketts had supervised the restoration of Radio City Music Hall in 1997 and immediately appreciated the similarities between it and the Peabody. He also saw an opportunity.
Checketts approached McKee, his dad and his brother Joe, president and CEO of PARIC Corp., one of the area's leading design/construction companies with a proven track record in historic renovation projects - including the renovation of the old courthouse in Union.
"Dave floated the idea that the opera house could be like Radio City Music Hall," McKee explained. "We didn't see it initially, we weren't really sure of the possibilities. The two buildings were built around the same time. But we thought what the heck, let's spend a weekend in New York and check it out. Maybe take in a show. What we saw was tremendous. It was really beautiful. We saw the potential Dave had recognized all along."
It took several years of lobbying to put the complex financing together for the project. A plan that included $32.6 million in bonds and more than $46 million in state and federal historic tax credits, federal New Market Tax credits, Brownfield tax credits and first mortgage debt was approved by the St. Louis Board of Aldermen in June 2009.
Actual construction, led by PARIC, started a year later. McKee said that when the project is complete, hundreds of different craftsmen will have participated in the renovation. The subcontractors include artisans who specialize in restoring plaster and painters who are able to match decades-old colors.
Their mission, according to McKee, was to respect history by restoring the building to its original condition wherever possible. The opera house is all that remains from the original Municipal Auditorium complex which dates back to the early 1930s. McKee said the workers have done an unbelievable job of returning the building to its "classic understated St. Louis elegance."
"Look at the light fixtures above you," McKee said during a tour of the main lobby. "They look new but those are the original fixtures. We had to remove the glass and clean them but look at them now. We had to rewire some but we were able to salvage most of the original fixtures. What's old is new again. This building proves that if you do things well, it will stand the test of time."
McKee said they took the same "do it right" approach with the new features as well. They include air conditioning, a sprinkler system, a new modern sound system and new wider, more comfortable seats in the main theater. The addition of the new seats, made by the same company that installed the original seats, will decrease capacity from the original 3,500 to 3,100. The entire building will be handicapped compliant and will also feature new escalators and a VIP entrance on 14th Street complete with valet parking.
"We spent a ton of time on the sound. Amplification wasn't a big deal back in the 1930s. You can (still) hear someone whisper on stage from the back row of the balcony. So we really had to work on incorporating a modern sound system. I think we got it right. The room has great sound," McKee added.
Part of that sound system is 4-foot thick sound panels behind the stage that block the sound from the Scotttrade Center. They were necessary so that both venues can be used at the same time. "If you've been to a Blues game you know how loud the horn is after a goal," McKee noted.
The new and improved Peabody also boasts a new kitchen that will support catering and food service for weddings and corporate events that can be held in the numerous ballrooms that are contained in the building. There are also four smaller assembly rooms - some with stages- that flank the main theater that can be used for meetings or for smaller theater productions. McKee said that his staff already has booked 10 weddings and Christmas parties and is optimistic that once it opens, the facility's versatility will make it attractive for both social and business functions.
There will also be an updated version of the Kiel Club with couches and comfortable chairs and a new Peabody VIP lounge and which will be open during Blues games and when the Opera House is not in use.
The Peabody will look different from the outside as well with new lighting and the addition of two new bear sculptures that join the original two bears. McKee and his group are also restoring Schiller Park, directly across the main Market Street entrance to the Peabody. They are adding landscaping, lighting and building a small skating rink that should be operational in November.
"The park is an extension of the building," McKee explained. "It is one of the first things people see when they drive past the building and we want it to be as warm and inviting as the opera house. We're trying to recreate a "main street" feel. We're hoping we can get members of the Blues to come out and do some skate-arounds for the public. How cool would that be?"
One of the keys to the Peabody's success according to McKee is booking the right shows. He said that John Urban, SCP's executive vice president, is handling that aspect of the operation and that he knows what he is doing. The public can expect to see a variety of artists, holiday concerts and national touring stage productions at the venue. You can check out the acts that have already booked including The Who's Roger Daltry performing "Tommy" on Oct. 8 at www.peabodyoperahouse.com.
"I'm looking forward to it (the reopening)," Bob Garza, an attorney and music aficionado from Union, said, "I remember seeing Frank Zappa there in 1980 or '81 and it was really something. I remember leaning over the balcony and just taking in the crowd and all the ornate features of the room . . . It was amazing."
"This place has historical significance and people are emotional about it," McKee said. "It's not our building, it is St. Louis'. We're just the caretakers. I know that sounds corny, but if you ask the workers they will tell you the same thing."