After Blunt Letter, City Warms to Solution for Jefferson Center

Productive talks aimed at preserving the financially struggling Roanoke Jefferson Center are underway two months after the facility sent the city a blunt letter raising the possibility of closure.

“We project insolvency” by 2026 because of millions of dollars of ongoing capital and maintenance needs, according to the May 16 letter sent to city officials by Jefferson Center Director Cyrus Pace.

This week, representatives of the center and city report recent progress addressing money issues that have been building for years. Although the situation was unresolved Tuesday, officials described efforts that appear to have pulled the crisis back from the brink.

“I’m seeing meaningful progress,” Jefferson Center Board Chairman Greg Brock said Tuesday. “I am more hopeful than I have been.”

City Councilman Nick Hagen said he’s expecting further talks on Jefferson Center’s request for a major cash infusion — an ask that city leaders initially declined to grant.

Preserving Jefferson Center is important because it’s one of the places that “makes Roanoke what it is,” Hagen sad.

When asked if Pace's letter prompted the new series of discussions, Mayor Joe Cobb said “yes and no,” adding that Jefferson Center's predicament of not having the revenue to pay for operations and major capital items is not new.

Options for Jefferson Center's sustainability include possibly a new model, whether it could or should become a budgeted city capital project, and a holistic approach that would include Jefferson Center, the city and the community. Cobb also said he'd like to see the list of capital needs prioritized.

Formal discussions over the funding issues began in January 2023. The Jefferson Center, using a consultant, released a study that identified $6 million in capital needs at the city-owned former high school, including a new roof and HVAC units and work on flooring, plaster and paint.

The two sides held a pivotal meeting this spring at which Jefferson Center leadership asked for significant new funding. City officials could not agree to its terms, but asked the center to put its needs in writing.

“Jefferson Center urgently requires immediate support from the City of $1 Million dollars to be received by September 1, 2025, and an ongoing commitment to annual support of $250,000. As we advised you, without this investment and commitment now, we project insolvency during calendar year 2026,” Pace wrote to City Manager Valmarie Turner.

By this time, city officials had just days earlier approved a 2025-26 budget without the $1 million for Jefferson Center — an action, Pace wrote, that would be “sealing the Jefferson Center’s fate.”

"We are heartbroken," Pace wrote. "Our 2024-2025 season was our most successful ever with record-breaking attendance and real momentum. The loss will mark not only the end of vital programming and community services, but also the eventually disappearance of one of Roanoke's most cherished and historic assets."

Pace was not in his office this week and unavailable for comment.

Aaron Kelderhouse, Jefferson Center marketing director, described the letter as a responsible move to “let the city know” where things stood. Kelderhouse said he hopes the effort will help create a solution. 

When asked if Jefferson Center has talked to private donors about funding, Kelderhouse said those discussions have centered on people waiting to see what the city is going to do.

Jefferson Center, a nonprofit, reported operating deficits the past several years, according to financial filings. In 2024, expenditures exceeded revenue by $215,028.

Earlier this year, the city council raised the meals tax for substantial deferred maintenance at other city facilities as well as dealing with other budget issues such as a significant amount of employee overtime pay in various city departments. But Hagen said he thinks there may be a way to help Jefferson Center at a level that it’s requesting.

“There will be discussion,” he said.

The capital needs are not a reflection of Jefferson Center’s operation. It recently had its most successful year of ticket sales – the third in a row –  and it is now promoting its lineup for the upcoming season, which includes performers such as Ricky Skaggs, Wynton Marsalis and Chris Isaak.

Describing itself as “Roanoke's premier performing arts and cultural center,” Jefferson Center hosts about 100 annual shows, from Opera Roanoke to Roanoke Ballet Theatre productions.

Formerly Jefferson High School, city leaders saved the 1922 building from demolition by pledging to create a center for arts, education, social services and small businesses. In 1989, the Jefferson Center Foundation formed and the city and private donors eventually gave $9 million for renovations.

Jefferson Center is on the hook for repairs to the four-story building, according to its lease agreement with the city. It employe 48 people.

A 2023 Jefferson Center capital needs document addressed the relationship: “There is a widening gap between the expectations created by an outdated lease with the City of Roanoke and the realities of maintaining a 100-year-old, 131,000-square-foot building.” 

Vice Mayor Terry McGuire said the lease was probably well-intentioned when it was written years ago, but now puts Jefferson Center in a difficult situation.