When renovations on the Val Air Ballroom are completed, Sam Summers predicts attendees will see"a little bit of everything"in the eventual line-up.
“When you have a venue this size you kind of have to accommodate and program with all different styles of music and comedy," Summers said."I envision making this room multi-use."
Summers recentlyacquired West Des Moines' Val Air Ballroom—301 Ashworth Road—for $1.9 million from Detroit-based owners,who purchased the venue in 2003 for $1.1 million.
"We’ve been talking with them a long time," Summers said. "We’ve always been interested in having a room of that size.”
Summers, who organizes the Hinterland Music Festival andowns the music venue Wooly's in the East Village, says he's been booking shows at the historic ballroom since 2005 while he was still a college student.In the time since then, he's continued using the ballroom as a venue for performances too large for Wooly's.
Tom Archer originally opened the Val Air in 1939, built on the existing foundation of a tire factory,and the venue has sincehosted decades ofentertainment,from swing dancing and big bands to heavy metal and punk.
In just the past 20 years, the Val Air Ballroomstage brought the likesof hip hop star Snoop Dogg and metal giant Alice Cooper to Des Moines, and it became a settingfor high school proms, theHeartland Swing FestivalandPho King Cook-Off.
When theproperty originally went on sale in 2016 with an asking price of $2.6 million, a report fromthe nonprofit Neighborhood Development Corp. estimated that efforts to modernize the venue would be in the ballpark of $1.1 million. Now, six years later, Summers thinks his plans for modernization will cost significantly more.
“I think it’ll be closer to $5 million," Summers said."That report wasn’t taking into consideration everything we’re going to do to it, but also stuff is more expensive now."
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Summers plans to completely update the venue with new electrical,plumbing and sprinklersas well asinstall ADA-appropriate accessibility optionssuch as an elevator. He also plans to add additional bathrooms and HVAC andwants tomitigate the noise coming from the venue as performances in the pasthavespurred complaints from nearbyresidents.
Summers' plans go one step further, returning the venue to alook evocative ofits prime in the 1950s.
"That time period begins in 1954 when that building was completed in the form it is today," said Alexa McDowell, an architectural historian at A.KAY Consulting living in Des Moines.“There was a fire in 1961 that altered some of the historical design components.”
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Summers will workwith McDowell andA.KAYConsulting — which helped Clear Lake's Surf Ballroom when that facility was listedin the National Register of Historic Placesin 2012 —as he begins planning renovations and considers how to maintain "components of the building that define its historic character," McDowell said.
Features such as the brick section around the entrance, the neon sign and the canopy extending across the driveway define the venue's character, and McDowell notedthat plans for the building will retain that spiritwhile "being sympathetic to the history."
Also top of mind for Summers during the process will be ways he can make the venue more comfortable for theperformers it hosts.
For perspective, Summers noted that a Hinterland music festival headliner might typically bring in two to four semis worth of stuff, while a Wooly's performer would travel via trailer. He imagines, with betteramenities backstage at the venue, the Val Air could attract bigger artists typically traveling withfive semis.
He likened these behind-the-scenes considerationsto some of those implemented in Hoyt Sherman Place's recent renovations that made accessing the venue easier and more comfortable for big performers.
"We really have to put our best foot forward as we’re bringing these artists to town," he said."We won’t have the populations that a Minneapolis or Chicago does… There’s no reason we can’t compete with these big markets if we’re providing an experience for an artist and a fan that’s maybe better than what they would get in one of these bigger cities.”
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Summers also noted that performers who have played Hinterland or the 683-person capacity Wooly's and grew a fan base in the area might return to fill the Val Air once it's open again.He also plans to continue to make the space available for promsand the other types of large, local events hosted in the past.
Summers plans to keep the Val Air operating until about October. At that point, the venue will undergo at least a year-long remodel.
Upcoming shows at the Val Air includealt band Dashboard Confessional and rock band Jimmy Eat World March 2, punk rockers Beartooth on March 28 andhardcore punk band Knocked Loose on April 28, among others.
McDowell says thatsince the Val Air isa building certified as eligible forstate and federal historic tax credit programs, the venue could receivea state historic taxcreditthat amounts to25%of the qualified rehabilitation expenditures.
Typically, about 90% of a project's total rehabilitation would be applicable for that tax credit, though, McDowell noted. Some work items — such aslandscaping, paving andfurnishings —are not considered qualified expenses
On a federal level, the project will also qualify for a 20% historical tax credit.
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Those federal tax credits hinge on whether the Val Air can get listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a requirement of the historic tax credit program. A state board will vote on whether or not to forward the National Register nomination to the National Park Service on Feb. 11, McDowell said in an e-mail to the Des Moines Register.
Ultimately, when the venue does reopen, Summers hopes that the changes continue to deepen the variety of talent frequentingthe Des Moines music scene.
“Really just being able to service the artist and the market at every level is something that’s super important to me," Summers said."I think this 2,500 (capacity)club is going to be an important piece of the puzzle. We’re moving closer and closer to having everything covered here.”
Isaac Hamletcovers arts, entertainment and culture at the Des Moines Register. Reach him at ihamlet@gannett.comor 319-600-2124, or follow him on Twitter @IsaacHamlet.
