Music Hall Gets Green Light To Open

Jim Turcio brought a more important implement than a scissors to a ribbon-cutting Friday — a certificate of approval.

That certificate from Turcio (at center in photo), the city’s building official, means that the College Street Music Hall can open to the public as planned with a Friday night concert by The Machine (playing Pink Floyd tunes) and a Saturday night Americana double bill featuring Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt.

It seemed touch and go for a moment as crews scrambled to get the circa-1920s College Street theater (across from the Shubert) in shape to reopen in time for the concert after spending 12 years in mothballs.

Turcio and Fire Marshal Bobby Doyle did a walk-through on Thursday, little more than 24 hours before the planned opening, and declared the building ​“good to go” safety wise — even if cosmetically it still looked like a construction site. The flooring wasn’t in yet on the first floor; the seats remained in plastic wrapping.

But ​“all the safety features are in place,” remarked Doyle (pictured onsite Thursday afternoon). He said the smoke detectors and alarms were installed and operable, as were exit doors.

Doyle added that ​“we’re going to have one of our guys out here” Friday night to make sure all goes smoothly — and catch some tunes in the process.

Thanks to the certificate, by 10:30 a.m. sharp on Friday, Mayor Toni Harp and promoter Keith Mahler were able to cut the ceremonial ribbon on College Street — and make it official.