OBSERVER File Photo Pictured is the former Card Seed Co. building, located at 50 W. Main St., in Fredonia. The facility will see a major transformation with help from a $450,000 grant through New York Community Homes and Renewal’s New York Main Street Anchor Project program.

Work to transform a vacant warehouse facility in downtown Fredonia to a theatrical performance hub continues.

At the village level, the board this past week issued a Request For Qualifications to seek professional services for administration of a $450,000 state grant. In December, the New York Homes and Community Renewal awarded the funds to the village in order to renovate the historic Card Seed Co. building, located at 50 W. Main St. Funds are through the New York Main Street Anchor Project program.

The village applied for a consolidated funding application on behalf of Venture Productions and Ted Sharon, owner. Venture Productions is a video and stage production company currently operating out of the Fredonia Technology Incubator.

Plans for the building are to convert it into an entertainment hub featuring theater, film, music, dance and cultural arts. Renovations will transform the former warehouse facility into a first-floor performance space, second-floor classroom space and rooftop garden space, which can play host to a variety of events.

As for the RFQ, the village is searching for a consulting firm to assist in the review and execution of the state grant, help with the assembly of request for proposals and/or other RFQs and ensure the village is in compliance with requirements per the state program, among other duties.

Trustees received an initial draft of the RFQ on Monday and subsequently approved it in order to meet tight deadlines. But Trustees Roger Britz Jr. and Doug Essek expressed concern over the fact they didn’t get a chance to review the initial RFQ draft before voting. Britz Jr. said the matter was prior to him coming on board and that he needed time to look at it. Essek said the board must do its due diligence.

“There’s no due diligence here,” he said.

Other trustees had no problem with the draft. Mayor Athanasia Landis said Village Administrator Richard St. George and Village Attorney Dan Gard had a chance to review it and change a few things.

“I trust them,” Landis said. “We have a lot going on in this village. We do it as quickly as we can.”

Gard told trustees some changes within the village’s RFQ draft pertained to dates.

“My feeling and Rick’s in talking with Nate (Aldrich) that it’s good to go,” he said. “And that’s one thing we need to do sooner rather than later. This is a time is of the essence type of thing. There’s a ton of things going on with these projects and we don’t want to be at risk of losing our funding.”

The village is accepting responses from qualified consulting firms through April 4 for grant administration services.