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Preservation is paramount.
Saved from the wrecking ball almost 30 years ago, the Dumas Hotel was purchased by Total Action for Progress and renovated to the tune of almost $6 million–via a combination of grants, loans, tax credits and $821,000 of TAP funds. Reborn as The Dumas Center for Artistic and Cultural Development in the mid ‘90s, it features a 178 -seat auditorium. For a while it housed the Music Lab program now at Jefferson Center and more recently Roanoke Children’s Theatre–also now at Jefferson Center.
Now the Dumas Center on Henry Street has a new owner. TAP put it up for sale several years ago according to CEO Annette Lewis, but only recently has there been much said about the move. At press time Lewis and TAP would not reveal the prospective buyer. A community group that had hoped to put together the asking price of around $1 million–and was hoping to work out a longer time frame with TAP to do that in–was not the buyer.
The Dumas Hotel Legacy Inc. did release several statements declaring they would continue to submit proposals until the purported sale was closed on. The group says preserving the history of the Dumas is paramount–it was once a hotel and entertainment hub for black Roanokers that welcomed performers like Duke Ellington, Lena Horn and Dizzy Gillespie.
“The decision to sell the Dumas Center was not an easy one,” Lewis said in a release, adding, however, that the sale “would allow us to focus our attention and resources on programs that are vital to the community and fall in line with our mission.”
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