Economic and Fiscal Impacts of Proposed Renovations to the Clemens Center in Elmira, NY

The Challenge

The Clemens Center is the only historic theatre remaining of an original 12 in downtown Elmira, NY. In addition to being a live performing arts and entertainment venue, it is also home to five local nonprofit arts organizations representing ballet, choral, modern dance, orchestra, and theatre, who present their performances at the Center.

A portion of the building is deteriorating and is used as storage, so the Clemens Center has proposed renovating the space for better use, such as enhancing programming and expanding facility capacity. This led to the Clemens Center wanting to understand their impact on the city and county and how the proposed renovations would benefit the community.

The Solution

In 2023, Camoin Associates was hired to examine the economic and fiscal impacts of the Clemens Center renovation on the City of Elmira and Chemung County. We analyzed constructed-related impacts and annual impacts of the Clemens Center, including the creation of jobs, earnings, sales, and tax revenue throughout the economy.

In addition, Camoin Associates worked with the Clemens Center to identify their social and cultural contributions to the community to highlight qualitative benefits outside of the quantifiable analysis.

The Impact

Prior to Camoin Associates’ economic and fiscal impact analysis, the Clemens Center did not have an existing impact study to show the City of Elmira or other potential funders how they have been benefiting the community.

As a result of this analysis, the Clemens Center can use the study to present the proposed renovations to potential funders to support the project and show that after the renovation, they are creating an estimated 45 jobs, $2.3 million is associated annual earnings, and $7.3 million in annual sales that are spent locally in the city.

Services Provided:

• Economic impact analysis
• Fiscal impact analysis
• Economic and fiscal impact infographic (PDF)