Renovations at Landmark Theatre attract Broadway touring shows.
/ Dora Scheidell
DOWNTOWN SYRACUSE -- After significant renovations in November of last year, the Landmark Theatre is now able to attract touring broadway shows and Downtown Syracuse businesses are reaping the benefits.
The owner of Mr. Shop in Armory Square, Joel Shapiro, says more people are seeing more foot traffic and sales at his store.
"People are actually coming into the retail stores and shopping because they're down here to see Wicked and Jersey Boys," says Shapiro.
With three weeks of Jersey Boys in October and two weeks of Wicked in November, the Landmark Theatre is hoping the momentum continues. The development director, Mary Kate Hartmann says the theatre has accomplished what they set out to, bringing it up to "lion king" standards.
"When you come to see a show and you see people flying across the stage, or riding a bike or having a huge band it allows the performers much more room and that's one of the best things because the promoters love it, the cast love it, and the crew love it," says Hartmann.
Other people who love it are the thousands of Canadians who are coming down to see these shows. The President of the Convention and Visitor's Bureau, David Holder, says this Canadian audience is unprecedented.
For instance when Jersey Boys came to town there were 14,000 local ticket sales compared to 13,000 Canadian sales for the same event.
"Those Canadian visitors if they just spent one night it was $2.5 Million of travel spending that's about $100,000 of sales tax that was generated," says Holder.
The more often big name entertainment translates into big business, the better off this community will be.
