Plan calls for shuttered doll factory to become Lakes Center for the Arts

MEREDITH — Annalee Dolls, which once employed hundreds of people and shipped its products around the world, started with a creative local person who followed her talents. The huge building that once produced the whimsical dolls has been vacant for years, but a group of people is working to put it back to use, with the hope that it can help foster a new wave of creators.

Lakes Center for the Arts is the brainchild of Kim Cedarstrom, a real estate agent, and Eliza Leadbeater, former director for the Belknap Economic Development Council. The idea is a solution to the question, what is the next purpose for the four-story, 35,000 square-foot building that was built in 1978?

“This building, it’s a white elephant,” Cedarstrom said. Its post-and-beam construction prevents it from being suitable for boat storage, he said. The property is currently owned by Townsend Thorndike, who would lease the property to the LCA, which would have an option to buy.

The steering committee behind the effort is hosting an open house at the property, located at the end of Reservoir Road, near the Winnipesaukee Playhouse. The open house will be held on Thursday, Oct. 10, from 4 to 7 p.m.

Cedarstrom said the Lakes Center for the Arts would be an incubator for creative people who need a space to hone their talents, to learn about how to use their skill to make a living, and perhaps, even, to live. It’s not a novel concept, as other large buildings have been similarly re-purposed in other parts of New England, but not closer than Portsmouth.

“There really is nothing like this in central New Hampshire,” Cedarstrom said. “It’s truly a regional thing that we’re trying to create.”

If it takes off, he thinks it would provide benefits both specific and broad. It would give artistically gifted people a place to foster their talents into a career, which, if it succeeds in doing so, would invigorate the local economy and give young people a reason to move to, or stay in, the Lakes Region. The potential upside is significant – a 2015 study by Americans for the Arts found that the arts contributes $58 million to the economy of Portsmouth.

The former Annalee Dolls factory, which sits on five-and-a-half acres, needs a bit of work first, though. Cedarstrom said the LCA steering committee needs to raise about $200,000. That amount would allow the incubator to get started and start generating its own revenue. The business plan for the center has no reliance on taxpayer contributions, Cedarstrom added. The LCA would be a self-sufficient enterprise.

Lakes Center for the Arts is currently organized as a subcommittee of the Greater Meredith Program and, as such, can accept tax-deductible donations. Cedarstrom said the LCA will eventually become a freestanding nonprofit.

Once the group is able to raise $200,000, it would kick off a five-year build-out plan. By the end of that plan, the LCA would have more than 30 studios to lease, a café, gallery store, small loft apartments and space for classes, all of which would generate revenue.

“Once we get cashflow, we can get going,” Cedarstrom said. Give talented people the chance to pursue their dreams, and the impact can be great. The building at the end of Reservoir Road stands as a testament.

“That’s what the arts can do,” he said. “It provided a lot of work for people in town. We’re trying to hook that back in.”