The Steeples Project announced the launch of The Grand Halle Renewal Project Wednesday afternoon in Cambria City.

The $626,000 project will restore the popular concert and special events venue to its original Victorian Gothic beauty in two phases. The first phase is set to begin in the summer of 2019, during which a roofing specialist will replace the copper valleys, flashing, gutters and downspouts on the Halle’s roof to eliminate water infiltration issues inside.

Phase two, which will begin in the early months of 2020, will focus on restoring the interior plasterwork and moldings in the Halle’s main room. It also includes cleaning golf-leaf accents and repainting the entire space.

The Steeples Project manager, Dave Hurst. said it’s important to keep buildings like the Halle alive as part of the city’s ancestry. “These are irreplaceable buildings. They’re architecturally distinctive, they’re beautiful, they’re the type of building that simply is not built today. If they’re lost, they’re lost, they’re gone,” said Hurst. He added, “we’re never going to cover or replace a building like this.”