Palace Theater to get new roof

West Roofing Systems Inc. of LaGrange won the contract for the 58,000-square-foot project

Lorain Palace Theater will get a new roof, according to plans by the theater’s board of directors. Board directors voted Aug. 20 to award the contract to West Roofing Systems Inc. of LaGrange.

The company will make watertight a stretch of 58,000 square feet, “which is a significant roof job in downtown Lorain,” said Palace Board President Dan Kelley.

The month-long installation is scheduled to begin in the third or fourth week of September and completed this year, Kelley said.

The timing coincides with the Palace’s late summer and early fall lineup of shows in September and October.

However, ticketholders should not expect disruption to show or holes in the ceiling, Kelley said.

West Roofing Systems and Palace Executive Director Chris Pataky will coordinate work days around arrival, setup and rehearsals, Kelley said.

“The show must go on,” he said. “We don’t anticipate it changing, altering our schedule in any form or changing the enjoyment of our patrons.”

The Palace also has an attic space above the audience seating area and the ceiling should remain intact, so the rooftop work will not be visible from the inside.

Kelley predicted the project will be less disruptive than recent construction for the Broadway streetscape project that will bring new sidewalks, lights and signage out front.

When the old sidewalks were removed, patrons had to navigate dirt paths and steel plates to enter, Kelley said.

“Trust me, we love it, but that was a challenge to get people in,” he said about the streetscape project.

Up on the rooftop

When it was built, the Palace was the largest single-floor theater in Ohio and it remains among the largest in the state.

For its building footprint and total size, it has a larger rooftop area than other multi-story buildings on Broadway, Kelley said.

“You get this really expansive roof,” he said. “It’s like a big ranch.”

Although it may be difficult to see from the street, the rooftop exists in five separate areas.

Repairs are coming to the area over the dressing room, main seating area, the projection room and the building lobby, concession stand and storefront area.

The rooftops of those spaces all exist at different levels atop the building, Kelley said.

The Palace is not like a home that has an inclined roof covered with shingles that shed water to gutters that channel it to downspouts, he said.

Instead, the Palace has a flat roof with parapets that rise above the rooftop surface and scuppers, or openings, for water to drain out to downspouts, Kelley said.

The roof over the stage is the newest; it was repaired a few years ago due to profuse leaking and will not have major repairs, he said.

Finding a contractor

The Palace board put in many hours examining contractors and roofing systems and feel West Roofing Systems can create a roof that will last 20 years or more, Kelley said.

The theater will pay for the work using $150,000 from the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission, with the total contract to cost more than $200,000.

Some companies submitted bids tallying more than $300,000 for the work, Kelley said.

The future roof will have a base and a top layer that can be replaced at a lower cost than a full tear-off, he said.

“The level of diligence that was performed, it was immense,” with board members racking up hours’ worth of research, Kelley said. “This is the crown jewel of Broadway, in my opinion.”

West Roofing Systems also has worked on rooftops of buildings of Playhouse Square in Cleveland, he said.

The company’s website features work at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, the 25-acre Gorilla Glue distribution facility in Sharonville, the Ohio Turnpike Commission and the Berea City School District.