News from The Roanoke Times - Old eyes fail to see a circus' fleas: "Q: Why did they turn down the IMAX theater that had been planned for the new art museum?
-Gene Calvert, Roanoke County
A: 'I wish we could have it,' said Heywood Fralin, president of the Art Museum of Western Virginia's board of directors. 'I think everybody would love to have an IMAX theater.'
Removing it from the plans was a very tough decision, he said, but one with which most everyone involved agreed in the end.
'It just added so much to the cost that it was not feasible to do it,' he said, referring to both the construction costs and the eventual expense of operating the theater. 'It was risky to jeopardize the operation of the art museum if the IMAX was not cost-effective.'
The population of the Roanoke area is slightly under the minimum population recommended for an IMAX theater, he said. In other words: If they built it, we might come, but there wouldn't be enough of us to make a go of it.
Fralin noted that the architect's plan would allow an IMAX theater to be added in the future if the situation changed. But he felt that was unlikely to happen."
Im calling shennanigans. BIG ones too.
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