DERBY – A renovation of the historic Sterling Opera House on Elizabeth Street is estimated to cost $36.9 million, according to a consultant’s study unveiled this week.
Part of the plan moving forward is to raise money through donations and grants. A nonprofit group – Sterling Opera House Restoration – has already been formed to raise money.
The 429-page Sterling Opera House Comprehensive Study was presented by Steinberg Hart architect Evan Delli Paoli to the members of the Sterling Opera House Commission at a public meeting Monday (July 13).
Members of the commission voted to accept the study and said it will be given to the Board of Aldermen & Alderwomen for review.
Steinberg Hart, headquartered in New York City, was hired by the City of Derby in 2024 to analyze the opera house using a $100,000 state grant secured by state Rep. Mary Welander in 2023.
Recommendation: Live Music & Comedy
The report recommends using the opera house primarily as a commercial entertainment venue going forward, with standup comedy and live music mentioned specifically.
“Based on the Market Need findings, the first and best option is to renovate the Sterling Opera House for commercial entertainment, essentially live music and comedy,” according to the study.
The report recommends secondary uses, such as renting out the building for meetings and events, such as curated film programming. The space could be used at times by nonprofits organization, school-based groups, and civic organizations.
Webb Mgmt conducted the market study included in the report. It’s the same company that conducted a market study for the Sterling Opera House in 2001.
However, the results are very different.
In 2001 the company said there was demand in the area for a traditional performing arts facility.
But the market has changed, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Studies show a decline in attendance for various types of live performing arts events over the last forty years. Genres like classical music, opera, plays, and dance have been hit particularly hard recently,” according to the report.
The article continues after this embedded image from the report.
The study suggests it is not feasible to tie Sterling’s future exclusively to traditional performing arts.
“In our 2001 study, we identified a dozen groups interested in using the renovated Sterling Opera House. Now, in 2025, there is only one group, the Center Stage Theatre,” the report states.
The study casts doubt on whether Center Stage, currently based in Shelton, would move into the Sterling as a tenant. A venue smaller than Sterling makes more sense for them, the report suggests.
“They might rent the opera house on an occasional basis, perhaps for one production a year,” according to Webb Mgmt.
The study recommends the primary use be commercial entertainment.
“The last and best chance to re-animate the Sterling Opera House would be as a venue for touring live arts and entertainment, mostly music, comedy, and speaker series,” according to the market study.
The report stresses the need for an experienced operator to run the Sterling. The operator should have the ability to book live acts and market the events.
The study points out that renovating the facility, and then renting it out on a case-by-case basis to individual promoters won’t work.
“The key to this approach is to find and contract with an operating partner able to access touring product, aggressively promote those programs, and then support the four secondary programming elements while taking the operating risk away from the City of Derby,” the report states.
Gino DiGiovanni, Jr., the chairman of the Sterling Opera House Commission, said it’s important that the Sterling Opera House be flexible and that an outside company be brought in to help.
He said the ideas that seemed viable 25 years ago may not be viable for the Sterling today.
“Derby should not be in the theater business. I don’t mean just Derby, I mean any municipality,” he said.
DiGiovanni pointed to The Ridgefield Playhouse in Ridgefield as an example of a successful arrangement. The Town of Ridgefield owns the building and property, but a nonprofit business runs the day-to-day, including scheduling acts.
The Price Tag
The Sterling Opera House was built in 1889. It was used as a performing arts center until 1945. Then it was used for government offices, the police station, and city jail until 1965, when it was abandoned.
It was added to the National Register in 1968, but the building has not been used in 61 years.
The City of Derby has not ignored the building. The exterior has been renovated and is in good shape, the report notes. That effort protected the interior from massive water damage, a common sight in very old buildings.
But the place still needs a top to bottom renovation – and one that preserves Sterling’s history.
Its two and three-story horse-shoe seating arrangement has to be preserved, because it is part of what makes the place historic, the report says.
“It’s a very intimate room,” Delli Paoli, the architect, said.
The report gives three slightly different seating options. Depending on which scenario is chosen, the Sterling could accommodate 550, 569, or 613 seats.
The report details the renovation process for at least 100 pages, with price estimates for everything from asbestos abatement to building a small addition for an elevator.
The comprehensive study estimates $28,105,00 in “hard costs.”
That is, costs associated with the actual building work to be done. That estimate includes “contractor mark-ups, escalation, and contingencies,” the report states.
There is an additional estimated $8,853,500 in “soft costs.”
Those are defined in the report as “all additional costs and fees associated with actually completing the work and getting the building opened.” The fees for architects, engineers and consultants are included in the soft costs.
Add the hard costs with the soft costs for a total estimate of $36,933,000.
DiGiovanni, after Delli Paoli’s presentation was finished, addressed the cost estimate – and potential “sticker shock” from the public.
The study “is an all-in cost budget that we worked really, really hard on,” DiGiovanni said. “I know the comments . . . from people that just see a number written on a piece of paper, might be a little bit shocking.”
But DiGiovanni said the work by Steinberg Hart and its partners gives the city and the public the clearest picture yet regarding what needs to be done if the Sterling Opera House is to be reborn and become an anchor for downtown Derby.
He noted the estimates are in 2028 dollars, knowing the project is at least two years from starting if all goes well.
The report doesn’t recommend a specific way to operate the opera house. It lists several options. The report also gives options for the governing structure.
That’s on purpose, DiGiovanni said.
“The reason we left some options open was so that we can attract an operator or partner to come onboard with us when the time is right,” DiGiovanni said.
The report also states the renovation can be done in a few phases, with the first phase totaling $30 million.
David Condon, a Derby native who submitted the paperwork to the IRS to establish a nonprofit entity to collect donations for the opera house, complimented Steinberg Hart for its work.
Condon is the founder and chief executive officer of Diversified Nonprofit Services, a company that advises on fundraising, capital campaigns, and nonprofit strategy.
Condon called the report “one of the most thorough he’s ever seen.”
“It’s comprehensive,” Condon said.
He estimated a fundraising effort will take at least 36 months.
The report talks about pursuing federal tax credits for the project. Condon warned that federal funding has become uncertain in recent years, especially for the arts.
The Sterling Opera House Commission started as a group of people who met on their own to talk about restoring the opera house in order to improve Derby.
They were established as a commission under Mayor Rich Dziekan’s administration, and then were given permanence through an ordinance passed under current Mayor Joseph DiMartino’s administration.
The July 13 meeting of the Sterling Opera House Commission was held in-person and online.
Click here to access a related PowerPoint presentation from the City of Derby website.
Click here to access the Sterling Opera House Comprehensive Study from the city’s website.