For John Condrey, the supervising project manager of the recent back-of-house capital improvements to the Neal S. Blaisdell Concert Hall, which cost $10 million, this is just one of many projects he has completed that are in the public eye.
Condrey works for the facilities division of the department of design and construction for the City and County of Honolulu.
"From the design profession side, the beauty is that you’re working for your neighbors,” he said. “We're producing something that's significant, that benefits the community.”
Condrey has a background in architecture and project management for large-scale commercial projects and joined the city 12 years ago.
The recent renovations aim to make the performing arts space safer for workers and bring it up to the level of other performing arts spaces across the nation, according to employees of the City and County of Honolulu, which operates the facility.
The renovations included significant lighting and electrical upgrades, refurbished seats as well as upgrades to the backstage dressing rooms and the addition of a now mechanized fire curtain, which can come down between the audience and the stage in the event of a fire backstage.
The City and County of Honolulu owns and operates the 22.4-acre Neal S. Blaisdell Center, located on the corner of King Street and Kapiʻolani Boulevard, which includes a multi-purpose arena, an exhibition hall, the concert hall, meeting rooms and a parking structure.
These upgrades are part of a $43.6 million capital improvement project for the Blaisdell Center. The concert hall is used by groups such as the Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra, Hawaiʻi Opera Theatre, and touring Broadway productions. It includes more than 2,100 seats, according to the center’s website.
“It feels good to have a renovated space that you can share with people who worked in the building on and off — especially sort of resident companies, like the symphony and opera and ballet,” Elizabeth Ishihara, the productions manager for the Neal S. Blaisdell Center and Waikīkī Shell, told Aloha State Daily. “They have a very specific idea of what the space looks like, and it's kind of cool every time that new group comes in for them to be like: ‘Wow! This looks great!’ ”
More renovations are in the works. Phase 1 Project C of the upgrades will cost an estimated $2.8 million, according to documents with filed with the Hawai’i Awards & Notices Data System. It includes irrigation, lights for the exterior of the building and the removal of a wall of mirrors in the front lobby so existing artwork on the sides of the building can be moved into that space, Condrey explained. Originally, the deadline for bids was March 31, but it was extended to April 2. Currently, there are 11 interested vendors.
“Our next step is to improve the exterior,” Condrey said. “The biggest part of this project is a brand new irrigation system because the existing one is failing. It is totally failed on one side already.”
“It’s failing on this side,” he said, pointing to another irrigation area shown on a poster with project plans. “Hopefully, we get to redo the front plaza to make it more friendly when they need to do some kind of user event out there. And then [add lights to] the building. The buidling has lots of lights around it but no architectural lighting. This project is currently out to bid and we’re hoping that this fall we can start construction.”
Katie Helland can be reached at katie@alohastatedaily.com.
