Feb. 26 (Bloomberg) -- In December 2005, New York City Center theater hatched a roughly $300 million renovation plan, after soliciting ideas from the Paul Taylor Dance Foundation and other resident companies.

“They said, ‘dream out loud,’ and we did,” said John Tomlinson, general manager of Paul Taylor.

City Center says the top-to-bottom makeover eventually will proceed, even though six members of its 32-person board of directors invested with Bernard L. Madoff, who is alleged to have run a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.

The six donated at least $260,000 to City Center last year, according to a program of the musical revival series “Encores!”

The renovation “has not been affected by the Madoff situation,” City Center President Arlene Shuler said in an e- mail statement in response to questions from Bloomberg News. She said she doesn’t know how her board’s Madoff investments will affect fundraising this year.

In any case, the renovation is not on the fast track and plans have been scaled back over the years. It was once scheduled to be completed next year and now remains in the design phase.

One of the largest venues regularly presenting dance and musicals, the 2,750-seat City Center has more Madoff investors on its board than any other major New York performing-arts group. Madoff himself was a director for at least a decade, until his arrest on Dec. 11, according to City Center tax returns.

Madoff Donation

In 2006, Madoff and his wife, Ruth, donated $50,000 to the 86-year-old organization, according to a program for “Encores!”

His victims on the board included City Center Chairman Raymond Lamontagne, a philanthropist and former investment executive, and Stephen Siegel, chairman of global brokerage at the real estate company CB Richard Ellis. Both names appear on a 162-page list of Madoff customers released by U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Neither returned phone calls seeking comment.

None of City Center’s own money -- roughly $6 million as of June 2007 -- was invested with Madoff, Shuler said in the statement.

The contracting economy and the Madoff investments could clip the wings of one of the city’s cultural leaders. A former dancer with the Joffrey Ballet, Shuler joined City Center in 2003 and introduced the $10-a-ticket Fall for Dance Festival the following year. The series has become a perennial sellout. In 2007, she booked choreographer Christopher Wheeldon’s new, high- profile Morphoses ballet company for a regular engagement.

City Center Reclaimed

“In a short time, she reclaimed and reinvented City Center as a dance house,” said Cora Cahan, president of The New 42nd Street, which renovated seven historic Times Square theaters beginning in the 1990s. Cahan was the driving force behind the revitalization of the Chelsea district’s Joyce Theater as a top dance venue.

Madoff also handled money for Broadway producers, according to the client list. Among them were Ira Pittelman, a lead producer of the 2006 Broadway hit “Spring Awakening” and a board member of the Atlantic Theater Company. Pittelman didn’t return calls placed to his office and home.

City Center, at 131 W. 55th St. in Midtown, was built in 1923 with a distinctive Neo-Moorish facade. Tomlinson describes it as a superlative and well-run venue ripe for modernizing, with public and private areas that become cramped around performance time.

The original restoration would have extended the stage and backstage while preserving historic elements.

Paul Taylor’s Tomlinson said City Center has steadily pared back and put off its renovation. It was originally to close for 18 months, disrupting the resident companies that also include American Ballet Theatre and “Encores!”

More Modest Plan

In September 2008, Tomlinson was briefed on a more modest overhaul to occur over two summers.

“The process has been a moving target,” he said. “The economy has been playing games with all of us.”

City Center’s major donors include Citigroup Inc., the Starr Foundation, Bank of America Corp. and American Express Co., all of which have been hobbled by the financial crisis.

City Center paid Polshek Partnership, the architectural firm selected for the work, a total of $254,000 in the two years ending in June 2006, according to tax returns.

Tishman Construction said on its Web site that the work would be completed in 2010. After a reporter inquired to City Center, the completion year was changed to “under development.” Shuler said City Center is working with its architects on a schedule.

To contact the writer on this story: Philip Boroff in New York at pboroff@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: February 26, 2009 00:01 EST