An incompatible adaptive use has finally fallen by the wayside -- maybe we can keep this department store after all. Barnes & Noble anyone? Mary Krugman (currently suffering wythe severe computer malfunction and a bit frantic but alive nonetheless - I have to run out now and get a jar of merkins to help pickle a city or two). ------------------------ Subj: Opera To Remain at Kennedy Center Date: 6/10/98 5:39:58 AM EST From: AOL News BCC: MDK10 Opera To Remain at Kennedy Center .c The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) - The Washington Opera will remain at the Kennedy Center for at least 15 more years. The announcement by the opera's president Tuesday finally ends plans to move the company into the former Woodward & Lothrop department store downtown. The board voted to abandon the proposal to move the opera from the center to a permanent home downtown just two years after philanthropist Betty Brown Casey had provided $18.05 million so that the opera could buy the old Woodies building. The transformation was originally projected at $100 million, but by last September, the estimated price had risen to about $200 million, The Washington Post reported. The opera board's executive committee will now examine the future of the Woodies building. The money from any sale would go into the opera's Eugene B. Casey Endowment Fund. Renovations at the 2,200-seat Kennedy Center opera house are slated for completion for the 2001-2002 season. AP-NY-06-10-98 0637EDT Copyright 1998 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without prior written authority of The Associated Press.