This community wants to save the old armory on Dabney Drive, but we fear there’s a powerful obstacle: Embassy Square.
The Henderson Shrine Club brought a renewed focus to the armory with its annual fish fry Wednesday, and WIZS-AM (1450) deserves a lot of credit for using the opportunity to get proactive about the fate of the Depression-era building. As detailed in its report on the fish fry, the Henderson radio station has launched a petition and a fundraising drive for the armory, and the petition has quickly received hundreds of signatures.
The armory could prove to be an important test of how our elected officials balance public desires and public finances in this year of municipal elections. The city and county, which jointly own the armory, have no money to spare at this point, and aside from forming a joint committee to study the armory’s future, the two governments have done little beyond watching as the armory falls apart.
The building is closed for public rental. Its roof is falling apart; Fire Chief Danny Wilkerson said the cost of a new roof was estimated at $60,000 several years ago. And the interior needs extensive work. The total cost of making the armory useful again could approach $1 million, which is about the price Henderson and Vance County could get for selling the property.
But the brick structure holds a lot of memories for people around here, and it has potential for a great future.
Maybe it can be the home of the Boys and Girls Club of Vance County. Maybe it can serve as a gym for E.M. Rollins Elementary School and a city recreation facility. Maybe it can be converted into a drag racing hall of fame. Maybe it can become a multiuse community center, available for rental for concerts, Rec Players performances, wrestling matches, graduations, weddings, bar mitzvahs, fish fries, etc.
Oh, wait, we don’t need a community facility like that because we’re going to build one at Embassy Square. And that’s the big complication we fear is preventing any serious effort to salvage the armory: A renovated armory could intrude on the community niche planned for the $6 million performing arts center/theater/auditorium.
Facts about Phase 2 of the Embassy cultural center are hard to come by. That’s partly because the nonprofit Embassy Square Foundation is under no obligation to release information, but mainly because the facts don’t exist yet. The foundation doesn’t have a final business plan for a self-sustaining theater, so we don’t know for sure how much a renovated armory would threaten that business plan.
But we know this: The theater’s business plan includes income from renting the facility out, not just from holding concerts and other cultural events. As it barely stands, the armory is not an alternative. But a fixed-up armory would divert business from Embassy Square, just as a high-powered fundraising drive for the armory would draw limited local funds away from the Embassy project.
We don’t expect public officials to discuss any link between the Embassy and the armory, let alone the possibility that we might need to make a choice between the two capital projects. But keep in mind that we’re not dealing with bottomless piles of money. There’s only so much that can be raised for any and all purposes within Vance County, and there’s only so much the state and federal governments and private foundations are willing to pump into Henderson.
There might not be enough room or money in this town for a theater and an armory.