The Alexander Theater: Approved for Renovation & Retrofit!
The Alexander Theater is an anchor property located in Sunday Market Square, one of the oldest planned public squares in the United States. The Square was a designated gathering space where enslaved people could not only trade goods but could also connect with loved ones and socialize on Sundays. It remained a popular meeting place through the 1900s.
Built in 1954 by Joseph Alexander (a Lebanese developer) , the Alexander Theater was the manifestation of Joseph’s vision to create a cinema in the Square that would help sustain its cultural and economic significance into the 20th Century. The Alexander Theater has remained a key element of the Foundation’s downtown revitalization vision since 1998 when we first became court-appointed receivers of several properties in Sunday Market Square. Once a thriving movie theater and a center of economic activity, the theater has stood in disrepair for over two decades.
In 2019, the Foundation was awarded a FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant to partially fund the renovation and retrofit of the Alexander Theater, transforming it into a state-of-the-art performing arts center, convening space, and the only downtown Christiansted Community Disaster Safe Room. The facility will safely shelter more than 300 people during times of disaster. The project is currently in the design phase. A perfect example of the Foundation’s holistic approach to community development, this project leverages scarce dollars for ripple impacts. The redeveloped Alexander Theater will add to the territory’s depleted disaster safe room pool, serve as an economic stimulus for Christiansted, and nurture the arts.
The Foundation wishes to extend its sincere gratitude to the community partners who have been an integral part of this project over many years and to VITEMA and FEMA for sharing our vision. Like all of our work, this project will take a village. With your help, the new Alexander Theater will serve as a radical model of community resilience and holistic community development.
For more information please contact Haley Cutler at hcutler@stxfoundation.org or call the St. Croix Foundation’s office at 340.773.9898.
SCF Partners with Mercy Corps: Tender Notice & Intent to Bid
St. Croix Foundation is proud to have Mercy Corps as one of our strategic partners on the Alexander Theater project. The Alexander Theater has been selected as a Resilience Hub under Mercy Corp’s Caribbean Resilience PRIME initiative. The Alexander Theater will be retrofitted to include key resiliencies to serve our community during times of disaster including solar power, potable water, and disaster communications. The partnership will also support the installation of a community food garden in Sunday Market Square and emergency preparedness training.
Mercy Corps is seeking a consulting firm to provide engineering condition assessment, conceptual design, final design, and construction supervision for building retrofit/repair and PV system installation at the Resilience Hub Project located at St. Croix Foundation Building, Christiansted Town, US Virgin Islands. To learn about this opportunity, please view the Tender Notice and Intent to Bid Form available for download at the links below:
Firms interested in submitting a bid are advised to complete an Intent to Bid Form and submit it according to the guidelines below.
Completed Intent to Bid Forms must be submitted to Mercy Corps by September 10, 2024 at 5:00pm AST. Bid Forms must be emailed to criprocurement@mercycorps.org with the Tender Reference number in the email subject line.
After the closing date of this Tender Notice, the Request for Proposal will be sent to the firms who submitted Intent to Bid Forms via the email addresses indicated on the Intent to Bid Forms.
All inquiries regarding this procurement opportunity should be directed to Mercy Corps.
