Jeff was one of the founding board members of the Universal Preservation Hall in Saratoga Springs in 1999. He worked until 2009 as the volunteer construction manager to save and restore the former Universal Baptist Church on Washington Street. It had been in imminent danger of collapsing and he and a dedicated group of colleagues didn’t want to lose this beautiful historic structure with the tallest steeple in the city. Because of the size, wonderful sight lines and superb acoustics of the upper-level auditorium, the vision was to transform the building into a 600-700 seat performing arts and special events venue. The nationally recognized architectural firm of John G. Waite Associates in Albany worked with the group to stabilize and restore the building carefully and maintain its historic integrity as much as possible. Jeff stayed with the project until the building was restructured, re-roofed, and ready for the next phase of fundraising and the final transformation into a state-of-the-art performance venue. Since then the project has been completed in collaboration with Proctor’s Theatre in Schenectady and is part of Saratoga’s greatness.
Visit http://www.universalpreservationhall.org for more information.