After hours of debate and public testimony, the Nashua Board of Alderman late last Tuesday rejected a proposal to build a performing arts center in downtown.
The $15.5 million project needed a 2/3rds majority to pass, and it fell short by two votes.
Roughly three dozen residents and business owners spoke in favor of the proposed 600 seat theater and event center saying it would be an economic driver, would liven up the downtown and keep young families in the city.
But at the end of the night, for aldermen like Ken Siegel – it came down to the cost.
“If I look at the numbers right now they don’t seem to work – they make a lot of assumptions, they don’t seem to work,” Siegel said.
Aldermen are asking the voters to weigh in the plan this November on the city ballot. But only whether the board of aldermen should sign off on the project.