The Springville Center for the Arts will host a Hard Hat Tour of its construction project, including the green roof, at 5 East Main St., Springville at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 1.
Anyone may attend the tour, but it does require the use of stairs.
Refreshments will be provided.
Please RSVP to scaseth@gmail.com or (716) 592-9038.
The project centers around Art’s Cafe, a counter service coffee shop-type establishment with a small performance space, artwork sales, workshop, artist residencies and a publicly accessible green roof.
The green roof, a key part of the tour, was installed last year by 32 trained volunteers and is set up as a demonstration project to show the different approaches to green roof technology. Some portions look more like traditional gardens. One section contains raised beds. Other areas include drought-tolerant plants designed to survive in a harsh rooftop environment with little maintenance. See the previous article on the project in Buffalo-NiagaraGardening.com.
When the center acquired the property, the roof had collapsed into the basement and neighboring buildings and Main Street traffic were threatened. The center worked with village, county and state governments to free the property from back taxes and stabilize the structure. The redevelopment hit a snag with the discovery of asbestos and foundation issues.
Work is slated to restart this fall with a projected opening date of Summer 2017. An online survey is posted at Survey.ArtsCafeSpringville.com to provide guidance on the food service portion of the project.
Interesting project.