Report: Bidding increases for floating concert hall
Wall Street Journal: Estimated cost for vessel between $3 & $4 million
Bidding from potential purchasers of a floating concert hall have risen to between $3 and $4 million, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.
But news of the escalating cost for the Point Counterpoint II vessel has not dissuaded a Kingston push to bring the 195-foot vessel to the Hudson River shore.
“... The price tag and the coordination that would need to be developed around the barge will require a large amount of work,” Mayor Steve Noble said in an email on Wednesday. “We have a great group of individuals and organizations who have expressed an interest and willingness to work together to bring this barge to our area.”
“If the group is successful in its efforts, we will have another world class attraction in our community,” Noble added. “I certainly hope this is the
end result. However, there is no guarantee that any of this will come to fruition.”
Still, Noble said, the local group seeking ways to bring Point Counterpoint II to Kingston are ramped up.
“... Our local group has expressed a strong desire to try and put the pieces together, including both the fundraising aspect as well as the organizational and maintenance requirements, and I am supportive of those efforts,” Noble said.
Noble has said the city has no plans to purchase the vessel.
The Wall Street Journal report said the boat’s owner, Robert Boudreau, told the newspaper that offers have
risen to between $3 and $4 million. It was first reported that the classical music concert hall with an open-air stage was being sold for $2 million.
Boudreau, who is founder of the American Wind Symphony Orchestra, also said inquiries about Point Counterpoint II have surfaced from France, England, and other American cities including Buffalo.
But he also told The Wall Street Journal that it is likely the craft will wind up in the United States because relocating the 1,600-ton barge is such a difficult task.
A working group is being organized to help bring the floating concert hall to Kingston after a meeting was held last Friday with Boudreau in Kingston.
Peter Wetzler, a local music composer who leads the
cause, had said Boudreau was extremely impressed with Kingston and wanted his vessel docked in the Hudson River.
The meeting was also attended by Noble, representatives of the Hudson River Maritime Museum, other political officials and business representatives.
Three weeks ago, Wetzler happened upon an online letter written by famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma about his distress over the possible junking of the concert barge.
The letter, Wetzler said, led to his effort to try to bring the barge to Kingston.
He wrote to Boudreau and reached out to Noble and others.
Boudreau previously told the Chicago Tribune that Kingston “is a perfect place” for the Point Counterpoint II because the community is “going through a very creative time.”
The Point Counterpoint II — a watercraft that opens like a clam shell to reveal a concert stage — currently is docked on the Illinois River in Ottawa, Ill., about 80 miles southwest of Chicago. It was designed by Philadelphia architect Louis Kahn and was unveiled in 1976, two years after Kahn died.
Karl Slovin, president of Hutton Brickyards owner MWest Holdings Inc., has said his company might be interested in investing in the vessel.
MWest, based in California, bought the long-dormant Hutton Brickyards property in 2014, and the site has become the home of the Smorgasburg Upstate outdoor food and flea market on occasional summer weekends. The site also hosted two concerts by folk-rock music legend Bob Dylan this past June.