The Columbia Club has received a $49,000 grant from the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet to clean up asbestos and lead contamination in Paducah’s Columbia Theatre.
Darlene Mazzone, co-chair of the Columbia Club, the nonprofit organization tasked with the restoration and rehabilitation of Paducah’s landmark theater, says she is pleased the group has been awarded the grant.
“This will help us to move forward with the first physical step in the restoration and preservation work,” Mazzone said. “Before we can do virtually anything inside the theater we have to remove these substances from the environment.”
The environmental abatement process is expected to total around $300,000 and will begin once the final cost is determined.
Mazzone said the next step in the restoration project will be to conduct a feasibility study, for which the club will use the anonymous $25,000 donation it received mid-June. The cost of the entire restoration project is expected to total around $8 million.
