Posted Jun 27, 2017, 1:40 AM
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Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Philadelphia
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After record 2016, Eastern State looks toward capital improvements
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There's a problem behind the walls of Eastern State Penitentiary, which once held many of the country's most notorious criminals like American gangster Al Capone.
But it's not about getting visitors through its doors; that, it's got down pat, hitting record-breaking figures in 2016. The problem is there isn't enough room to accommodate growth, but leaders at the historic site have devised a strategic plan to change that.
If all goes to plan, capital improvements — including visitor-centric amenities — may be in store for the Eastern State Penitentiary.
"We started with a dilapidated, unsafe building, and we've had to put a lot of capital improvements and infrastructure improvements," CEO Sally Elk told the Philadelphia Business Journal.
Millions of dollars have been injected into the site since then; more than $14 million was invested in 1994-95 alone, but Elk said more work is needed to accommodate growth and needs.
The organization and its board spent over a year looking at "every aspect of its operation to develop a new mission, vision and direction for the next five years.
The strategic plan is under review by Eastern State's board, which will meet in early October, according to a spokeswoman. The last strategic plan was created over a decade ago.
Revenue generated from the popular Terror Behind the Walls attraction is what keeps Eastern State running all year, but visitation for the historic site has ramped up, too. (See more below.)
"Now we're looking at how we can go beyond that and reach a longer-term goal and fund those," board member John McInerney said. "How do you improve the resources for the staff in terms of where they work and increase visitor services?"
McInerney this year became the first executive director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Sachs Program for Arts Innovation.
Eastern State has grown to about 21 administration staff, up to 40 front-line and about 300 seasonal, temporary staff for the popular Terror Behind the Walls attraction.
The organization moved its staff offices into the building in 2009, but it's starting to outgrow the available spaces, and other things are missing, too.
There's not enough room for staff offices; there aren't enough climate-controlled spaces to hold discussions like its Searchlight Series; there are necessary visitor amenities like heating, air conditioning and restrooms — visitors still use port-a-potties; and there are infrastructure needs.
These are multimillion-dollar projects, but there's a wealth of untapped spaces at the historic site.
"Some of them are still abandoned," Elk said. "The building you walk through where you buy your tickets, the upper floors are abandoned. It's where we would occupy our staff offices."
There is an abandoned building in the back of the Eastern State site that has an auditorium, and the goal is to put that building back into service. But it has to be climate controlled with restrooms put in.
This space would be a welcome area for events or discussions like the Searchlight Series, because in some instances, they must be held in areas that have no heating or air conditioning, Elk said.
"We desperately need that kind of auditorium space, and we have two buildings on the site that will satisfy our office needs and this gathering space," Elk said.
Multimillion-dollar improvements have been made in the past to use more abandoned space.
After a $6 million roofing project, Eastern State was able to open up a part of the site that was previously inaccessible to the public, a former prison factory near Death Row. It's now The Machine Shop in Terror Behind the Walls.
"We could expand what we're doing in ways that we want to expand," Elk added. "We just need the facilities to go into."
Record-breaking attendance
Eastern State had a record-breaking 2016 with 393,308 visitors, a 12 percent increase over 2015, according to data given to the Philadelphia Business Journal by the organization.
Taking into account only daytime prison tour attendance — and not attendance for Terror— Eastern State's attendance for the year was 239,007, which still represents a 12 percent increase over 2015.
"The unique thing about Eastern State is this funding model where we're able to generate money from Terror during Halloween and use the funding for more mission-centric activity," McInerny said.
"Now they're at this critical point, where not only have they really made it one of the best Halloween attractions and highly-ranked visitor sites," McInerny added, "but they're now embracing the larger role Eastern State has about raising awareness on the issues that surround institutions like that."
It's time to expand fundraising initiatives around those core values "that have grown and matured around an attraction with a serious purpose," McInerney said.
Getting more people invested and engaged means creating more facilities to do more activities.
"That's the next big step — to get more individuals and foundations more invested in the mission and vision moving forward, so we can have a broader investment," McInerney said. "That'll be a game changer."
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http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelp...ror-walls.html
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