SPAC receives $2.5M from state Senate

The Business Review (Albany) - by Adam Sichko The Business Review

SPAC receives $2.5M from state Senate

The Saratoga Performing Arts Center will soon get a face-lift, thanks to $2.5 million from the state Senate.

The funding will pay for a new facade that's modern and environmentally friendly, said Marcia White, the center's president and executive director.

Construction is scheduled to start and end between the 2008 and 2009 seasons.

"It will become the new face of SPAC," White said. "This sends the message that this is a facility moving forward confidently into the future."

The amphitheater's current exterior is the original siding from 1966, when the center first opened. A new facade will be built using a product called "trespa," made mostly of recycled paper and covered with a plastic resin, White said.

"It's easy to maintain, it's long-lasting and it's 100 percent recycled," White said.

The renovations will also install a fiber-optic lighting system that will reduce energy consumption.

In previous years, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Brunswick) has directed state funds to the center to replace seating, lighting and rest rooms, and improve the dressing room areas.

"When this project is complete, we will have been able to remake SPAC inside and out," Bruno said at a press conference on Wednesday.

The center's grant comes from a $132 million fund in the 2008-09 state budget for improving state parks throughout the state.