Renovations have begun at Mory’s, the president of the club’s board of governors, Christopher Getman ’64, said Friday.
Movers from Anthony Augliera Incorporated put tables and chairs into trucks parked on York Street in order to clear the building so that the wallpapering can be redone, the walls can be painted and the electrical system can be upgraded, Getman said. The furniture will be placed into storage, comptroller Robin Soltesz said.
All the pictures have been taken down from the walls as well, Getman said.
The Mory’s board has presented its business plan to two donors who have both pledged six-figures, Getman said.
“We’re two for two,” Getman said.
One of the checks is in the mail, Getman said, and the board is “hoping [the other donation] is going to happen very soon.”
Despite this progress, Getman said that Mory’s still needs to raise more funds to be able to reopen by the fall, as it has planned.
“If we get money as we hope in a timely way and can pay our contractors there is a reasonable shot that we will open in September,” Getman said. “If the money is slow coming in we may have to slow things down. We just don’t know yet.”
Getman said there is always the possibility that they will never reopen, but that possibility is “pretty remote.”
“If we can’t raise the money to do this then we won’t reopen,” he said. “But, I’m optimistic about our ability to do it.”
Getman said that the board has started to interview for the positions of manager and chef, but that they are still very early in that process.
Mory’s closed in December because of declining revenues and a drop in its endowment. At that time the board dismissed all management and staff except Soltesz. In March, the board hired the architectural firm Gregg, Wies & Gardner Architects and the contracting firm New England Construction Management to revamp the historic club.