Born in controversy roughly five years ago, the Aronoff Center for the Arts has created $171.2 million in new sales for the region's economy since then.

        The downtown theater complex has created $54 million in household earnings and almost 3,000 jobs, a new study says.

ARONOFF ATTENDANCE

1995-96: 514,000   1996-97: 536,900   1997-98: 468,000   1998-99: 406,200   1999-2000: 460,000

        Although it sits empty for months every year when its signature Broadway Series shows aren't visiting, the Aronoff Center still drew about 458,000 visitors last year — about 10 percent from out of town — and remains an anchor downtown.

        “This is money that wouldn't be there if the Aronoff wasn't here,” said Steve Loftin, executive director of the Cincinnati Arts Association, which runs the Aronoff Center, Music Hall and Memorial Hall.

        The CAA commissioned the study to persuade downtown leaders and business owners the theater was well worth the $82 million in state and city money it took to open it in October 1995.

        The numbers come as the group reports a $172,000 surplus for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31. Both the Aronoff Center and Music Hall earned money last year, Mr. Loftin said, supporting a wide variety of other productions and smaller theater groups.

        The study points out the cultural advantage of the complex in creating a more vibrant downtown.

        According to the study by the University of Cincinnati's Economics Research Group, the new business sales of about $35 million annually came from Aronoff Center operations ($9.2 million), spending by touring Broadway companies ($3.7 million), and spending by out-of-town visitors ($22 million).

        Others disagree, pointing out small businesses around the theater have not benefited. Even a Graeter's Ice Cream in the Aronoff Center on Seventh Street closed in 1999. And the former gift shop is now a space available for rent.

        “When they couldn't keep the Graeter's store open in their facility, it's obviously not creating the kind of traffic they claimed would be created,” said Jim Selonick, a retired Federated Department Stores executive who led a spirited opposition to the Aronoff Center when it was built.

        The former Graeter's space is occupied by a sushi restaurant called Sushi Ray.

        Since then, the Aronoff Center has struggled partly because of fewer shows from the Broadway Series. Since the first year, when it held more than two dozen weeks of Broadway shows, the number of Broadway events in the Procter & Gamble Hall has declined steadily. This year, the theater will recover slightly to host 17 weeks of Broadway shows.

        The CAA has at least broken even every year. But last year, it had to freeze hiring, raise rents and clamp down on other expenses to earn a modest surplus of $9,500, Mr. Loftin said.

        During the current fiscal year, the Broadway Series will play 17 weeks in the Aronoff Center, Mr. Loftin said.

        To get more people in the building, the group sponsored eight shows through its CAA Presents program, spending about $11,000 more to produce the shows than the revenue the shows produced.

        The $172,000 surplus will go into the CAA's cash reserves, which now total about half a million dollars. That money is held for large renovation projects.

        The group holds an endowment of about $6.5 million, and Music Hall's endowment totals about $11 million, Mr. Loftin said.

        CAA is a nonprofit group that manages the Aronoff Center for the state of Ohio, Music Hall for the city of Cincinnati and Memorial Hall indirectly for Hamilton County.

        It leases the performance spaces to various tenants, including the Broadway Series, the Cincinnati Ballet, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Cincinnati Opera.

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