A long-awaited project to restore the front of the Haven theaterhas officially been given the green light.

A pair of contracts were approved Thursday night in the firstmeeting of the 2008/2009 Brookhaven Little Theatre Board ofDirectors. The project will see the renovation of the theater’sfaçade, marquee and sign – Phase Two of a multi-phase, multi-yearrenovation plan – completed by the end of October.

“When this phase is complete, the exterior of our building isgonna be something our city can really be proud of,” said boardvice president Sha Walker. “The theater will be representative oflike-new 1950s conditions. It’s gonna be a beacon for the downtownarea.”

With the approval of the bids, the “beacon” is set to be craftedby local contractor Paul Jackson and Son Inc. and Meridian-basedMitchell Signs. Paul Jackson and Son Inc. was awarded theapproximately $117,000 contract to reconstruct the Haven’s frontentrance, while Mitchell Signs will handle the roughly $62,000restoration of the theater’s main sign.

The restoration of the façade, once given final approval after apre-construction meeting, should be completed within 75 days, saidPaul Jackson and Son Inc. President Paul Jackson. His company willwork within the guidelines set forth by the Mississippi Departmentof Archives and History for the renovation of historiclandmarks.

“All of our restoration will fall within those parameters basedon the historical look of the theater,” Jackson said. “The existingentry will be completely restored.”

Jackson said the project would include restoring the façade’sframing, exterior walls, plaster walls and ceilings and a completerehab of the doors and windows. Jackson has no worries about theexecution of the project within the historical guidelines, as theHaven will be just one of many such landmarks on the historicalregister his company has participated in, including the Inez andthe Johnson Institute at the Mississippi School of the Arts.

While Jackson’s company is working on the façade, Mitchell SignsAccount Executive Kyle Edmonds said his company would remove thetheater’s signage tower and take it to Meridian for restoration atthe company’s manufacturing facility.

“We will remanufacture the sign to match the original,” Edmondssaid. “It’s not too terribly complicated. Once we come out and do asite survey and get the dimensions, we’ll take the sign back to ourshop and make sure everything matches what was there.”

Edmonds said the sign would be rebuilt with channel letters thatlight up in exposed neon. Mitchell Signs will work closely with theHaven’s architects from Albert and Associations Architects ofHattiesburg to match the colors on the sign with the theater’soriginal appearance.

Mitchell signs will also restore the Haven’s sprawling marqueeboard to historical specifications.

Edmonds said the company is ready to work, and has beenpreparing for the job for years.

“Sha and I have been working on this since 2006,” he said. “Weput a lot of time and effort into it, and in the end we’re going tomake sure everything is done right and looks like the original. Thesignage is the first thing you’ll see – that’s why it’s soimportant that we replicate everything exactly.”

Edmonds said the restoration of the sign and marquee would takeeight to nine weeks.

Both companies are scheduled to have their projects completed byOct. 31. Walker said that once Phase Two is completed, the theaterwill delve into its play season while the board contemplates thecoming of the next phase of restoration.

Walker said the first step in the deciding the next move for theHaven will be to evaluate the success of the Save the Havencampaign’s fundraising efforts. Half of the $50,000 fundraisinggoal for July has been met, he said, and fundraising efforts willcontinue.

“We’ve had some really generous local support, and we’re gonnaneed more,” Walker said. “There were a lot of things that had tohappen to make this work.”

Walker said work on the next phases of the Haven’s restorationwill begin in earnest next spring, when the theater will beeligible for further grants through the department of archives andhistory and the Mississippi Arts Commission.

New grants will be written seeking assistance for Phase Three,the beginning of restoration of the theater’s interior.

“Grant funding is a big part of what we do, and we wouldn’t havebeen able to accomplish what we’ve done so far without MCA and theDepartment of Archives and History,” he said.