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September 19, 2005 | Business Journal
Arts center will go to 16th and Broadway |
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Organizers of the Metropolitan Kansas City Performing Arts Center announced plans Sunday to build the two-hall facility at 16th Street and Broadway. The Performing Arts Center's board made the decision after a four-month due diligence process in which it examined the possibility of developing the facility at the existing Lyric Theatre at 1029 Central Ave., according to a written release issued Sunday. Board Chairwoman Julia Irene Kauffman said in the release that organizers decided the 16th and Broadway site "is both functionally superior and aesthetically compelling." Organizers expect to break ground on the center in the fall of 2006, board spokesman Jon Ratliff said Monday. Organizers have raised $230 million in private financing for the project, he said. Kauffman and project manager Ken Dworak have estimated that it will cost $304 million to build the center and cover early operating costs. Ratliff said the board is re-evaluating the cost of the project and will have a more specific number with 30 days. Dworak said in the release that the building's architecture will remain unchanged, other than that each hall will have 1,600 seats. Earlier plans for the center called for a 1,400-seat orchestra hall and a 2,200-seat hall for ballet and opera. A year ago, Kauffman and Dworak envisioned breaking ground in August 2005 for the center at 16th and Broadway on a tract of land owned by the Muriel McBrien Kauffman Foundation. But fund-raising efforts met a roadblock with the November defeat of the Bistate 2 sales tax initiative, which would have raised $50 million for the center. In April, Kauffman said she and the board would consider locating the center in the Lyric Theatre building in an effort to save money. The plan would have involved renovating the theater and building a new symphony hall on the same block.
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