Norwich ― Community leaders in two city neighborhoods greeted with cheers and tears the news that the state budget includes funding to help save four historic buildings that house local landmark institutions.

St. Mary Church at 70 Central Ave. in Greeneville will receive $800,000 toward critical structural repairs to keep the century old stone church standing. The 1833 Greeneville Congregational Church at 143 Prospect St., will receive $500,000 to fix a sagging support beam that forced the congregation back to online services just weeks after returning from pandemic shutdown.

In downtown Norwich, a $500,000 state grant for the 1891 Norwich Arts Center at 60-64 Broadway will repair the leaky roof and fix a sinking foundation that threaten to close the performing arts center and gallery.

Two blocks away, the Chestnut Street Playhouse in the 1902 former city fire station at 24 Chestnut St. was awarded $500,000 to address its structural and functional shortfalls.

Leaders of the four entities were elated and thanked state Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, and state Reps. Kevin Ryan, D-Montville, who both represent Norwich, and Derell Wilson, D-Norwich, for their persistent work to secure the funding.

“It’s fantastic,” said Nancy Thomas, treasurer for Norwich Arts Center. “It’s going to save us. We just don’t bring in enough money. I don’t think anybody brings in enough money.”

NAC leaders started talking to state Rep. Ryan months ago about their desperate need to save their historic three-story building, co-President Patricia LaPierre said. They needed about $75,000 to replace the much-patched roof and much more to repair the sagging foundation, LaPierre said.

The 36-year-old arts center is safe for occupancy in its third-floor, 100-seat Donald Oat Theater ― with a street-level rear handicapped entrance on Church Street ― and first-floor art gallery, LaPierre said, but had no prospects for raising enough money for the repairs.

“The alternative if we did not get this money is, we would have to close,” LaPierre said. “No one wanted to say that out loud.”

The Chestnut Street Playhouse has been cramped physically and financially by the limited 69 seats in its the black box theater. The community theater group has received performing arts and education grants to pursue its mission of community outreach and performing arts education.

The grants have allowed the group to use ticket revenue and donations to repair the roof, HVAC and structural problems, install new theater lights and sound system, treasurer Rodney Green said. Two weeks ago, the theater celebrated that it just paid off its mortgage to own the theater outright.

Former board president Lisa Bono, named managing director in a restructuring in January to improve theater oversight, said Osten attends nearly all shows and was aware of the theater’s needs.

“I was in tears in my office here,” Bono said of when she learned of the state funding.

The theater group hopes to use part of the state grant to expand seating to 100 seats, with flexibility to change the configuration for different shows, Bono said. More seating could accommodate bus tours and large school groups, Bono said.

The second and third floors have “gorgeous space,” Bono said, but do not meet building code and can be used only for storage. The group has long-range plans to create a second-floor kitchen and board room and classrooms and a third-floor stage for rehearsals and performances. Green said the estimate years ago for the upper floors was $1.5 million. He hopes some of the grant can be used for updated plans and estimates.

Historic Greeneville churches to be saved

The bell tower at St. Mary Church in Greeneville has been wrapped in blue tarp and the front yard surrounded by chain link fence for over a year. The Catholic parish learned it would cost at least $1.5 million to stabilize the concrete and stone structure, Pastor Father Bob Washabaugh said.

Contractors have removed cracked and loose stone features for safety. Parish leaders were determined to save their beloved church.

“That’s enormously expensive,” Washabaugh said. “That’s a figure that grew once we learned more about it.”

The church received a $200,000 grant from Preservation Connecticut. Church leaders talked to Osten and sent about 300 letters in English, Haitian Creole and Spanish, reflecting the church’s diverse membership, to state leaders.

The parish raised $200,000 in pledges — “very impressive,” Washabaugh said — for the working-class immigrant congregation. The Diocese of Norwich has offered its support with an appeal for support in surrounding parishes.

“It’s a recognition that St. Mary is needed in Greeneville, needed for the immigrant community,” Washabaugh said. “The people in the parish saw this was really important. They could have said: ‘We really can’t do anything about it and let it go, or we can meet the challenge.’”

St. Mary Church will hold three summer festivals June 25, July 16 and Aug. 20 to benefit the church restoration.

The Rev. Gregory Perry, pastor of Greeneville Congregational Church, said he hasn’t stopped smiling since Osten told him about the $500,000 state grant to save the historic church.

The congregational conference director, who had a background in construction, visited the parish last fall, preached and looked up. Engineers confirmed his fear, a split, bowed support beam.

“It was serious enough that we ceased to meet in the church,” Perry said. “And we also began to look at how we are going to be able to get the funding to do the repairs. And it was substantial.”

The beam repair was estimated at $300,000, and more damage was found. The eaves are in bad shape. Windows in the church hall do not open. Closing the church also meant closing the parish’s low-cost thrift store, which provided household staples to local families at yard sale prices.

Congregation member Shiela Hayes, chairwoman of the congregation’s ways and means committee, contacted Osten for state help.

Like aging people, Perry said, the churches and arts buildings are suffering.

“Our knees were going. Our back was thrown out,” he said.

c.bessette@theday.com