Courtesy of Center in the Square

An artist's rendering shows Center in the Square's proposed 5,500-gallon live coral saltwater aquarium, which will be named after Steel Dynamics Inc.

The campaign to fund the $27 million Center in the Square renovation, which includes a large aquarium, has reached the home stretch.

A $750,000 challenge grant and a $500,000 corporate pledge have helped put the downtown nonprofit within $1 million of reaching its capital campaign goal. In an announcement Monday, Center called on the public to help close the distance.

The project is well behind its original proposed schedule, with construction now expected to begin in spring 2011, but given the recession, Center capital campaign director John Harlow said he considers the campaign's progress a victory for the community.

"We've done the best that we could given the circumstances that we were in," he said. "It's taken a little longer. That doesn't make the victory any less sweet."

Center announced the public campaign in September and had hoped to renovate its Church Avenue building this year, but the nonprofit is still negotiating the terms of the loan needed for work to start, said Center President Jim Sears.

Funding for the renovation comes from two components: $18 million in federal and state tax credits and a $9 million capital campaign. Harlow and Sears say all the necessary tax credits have been sold.

The final phase of the capital campaign will welcome even the tiniest donations, employing methods including mailing inserts, promotions at regional banks and "donate" buttons on Center's website.

"The last million dollars arguably will be the hardest to raise," said Bob Lawson, Center's campaign co-chairman. "It's going to take the entire community."

The challenge grant comes from the Kresge Foundation, a $3.1 billion foundation based in Michigan that provides assistance to nonprofits. The grant was awarded to support the renovation's historic preservation goals and its planned 'green' roof, which will feature a "living wall" of plants.

To earn the grant, Center must achieve its total fundraising goal. In other words, Center is counting the Kresge grant in its $8 million total of funds raised so far, but must raise the final $1 million in order to actually receive the money, Harlow said.

The corporate pledge comes from Steel Dynamics Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Indiana-based Steel Dynamics Inc., owner of the former Roanoke Electric Steel plant as well as New Millennium building systems in Salem and OmniSource Southeast of Rocky Mount and Montvale. It's the first such donation the steel corporation has made in the region.

The donation means a planned 5,500-gallon coral reef aquarium in Center's refurbished lobby will be named after Steel Dynamics. The attraction, which officials say will be the largest live coral aquarium in the mid-Atlantic states, will hold 250 marine fish and an assortment of 150 live corals. Three other aquariums are also planned outside the future home of the Little Dipper restaurant, two holding jellyfish and one holding sea horses. Center will be responsible for the aquariums' upkeep.

The final campaign push comes at a time when nonprofits, especially those focused on arts and culture, are struggling. In the region, a number of cultural organizations have launched or are preparing to launch their own fundraising campaigns, including organizations to be housed in Center.

The Science Museum of Western Virginia is looking to raise at least $5 million and the Harrison Museum of African American Culture more than $2 million to improve their exhibits. The Historical Society of Western Virginia has a $1.5 million fundraising goal, and Mill Mountain Theatre, which shut down almost all of its operations in 2009, is in the first phases of a campaign to fund its reinvention.

Harlow said that despite the crowded field, Center's progress provides proof that the money can be found. He referenced the Taubman Museum of Art's $66 million campaign.

"For Center to be successful after Taubman, there's no reason to believe that Science and Harrison and [Mill Mountain] Theatre can't be successful after Center," he said.

Since its November 2008 opening, the Taubman Museum has struggled, making its fourth round of layoffs earlier this month. Other arts and culture projects that opened with great fanfare, such as the Dumas Center for Artistic and Cultural Development in 2006 after a $4.8 million renovation, have also run into financial hardship.

Sears said he's always tried to determine the size of Center projects "based on the local need and local capacity." The renovations will make the building more energy efficient, and he's been conservative in projecting how the money saved through the upgrades will affect the nonprofit's long-term expenses. The renovation also offers new revenue sources, such as a larger atrium and a rooftop restaurant space that can be leased.

"When it comes to my own business, I'm very conservative," Sears said. "I'm not out here to create something that the region can't afford."

Harlow asserted that the completion of the Center renovation, coupled with the impending $6.5 million renovation of the city market building, will ultimately benefit the Taubman Museum, as the combination will help draw more people downtown.