The Steven B. Tanger Center for the Performing Arts continues to move forward in Greensboro, N.C. In addition to the announcement of a new name last September, and the achievement of fundraising goals Dec. 31, the next step has been made to make a state-of-the-art performing arts center a reality in the downtown area.
On March 4, the Greensboro City Council approved a “Memorandum of Understanding” between the city and the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro (CFGG) to outline terms for their public-private partnership. The project will come to a total of $65 million, to break ground this fall for a 2016 opening, but it’s been a long time coming.
“A performing arts center in Greensboro has been a priority for the community for the last 15 years,” said Walker Sanders, CFGG president. The facility will replace Greensboro Coliseum Complex’s 55-year-old War Memorial Auditorium, which underwent two failed bond referendums for renovation in 2006 and 2008 after a feasibility study recommended a new performing arts center in 1999.
"War Memorial Auditorium has basically outlived its useful life and can't book top-class shows anymore," said Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan, who has beeb involved with the process to secure a new facility since 2012.
Two years ago it was scheduled to try another bond referendum for renovations, but Sanders knew that in order to get an updated performing arts center, he’d have to do something different. The CFGG created a task force with 82 members of all different opinions. Some thought the community needed a new performing arts center in the same location, some preferred the downtown location, and others didn’t want a new performing arts center at all. While the task force engaged the community, engaging with more than 3,000 people in about three months, AMS Planning & Research for the Arts and Entertainment Industries was hired to do a feasibility study, as well as look at the potential economic and community impact of a new performing arts center.
Construction alone is expected to bring an economic impact of more than $30 million with the creation of 1,200 jobs, and the annual impact of the performing arts center on the city could reach $7 million annually.
“We will create jobs, and having a job allows a person the dignity of purpose,” said Steven B. Tanger, CEO, president and director at Tanger Factory Outlet Centers at a press conference identifying him as the largest single financial donor for the center. “We will create jobs for the many trades that will construct this facility at $7.5 million. We will create jobs for the talented people pursuing the performing arts, and we will create jobs for the dedicated staff that will operate the Tanger Center.”
The CFGG tried to ensure the whole process is very transparent, keeping meetings open to the community and media.
“I think what we learned is that we couldn’t make the assumption about the type of building people wanted, the type of performances they wanted, or how it’s going to be paid for,” said Sanders. “When we went to an open process it created ownership, buy in, and the trust of the community.”
The memorandum outlines the financing, including that the fundraising committee can sell naming rights in and around the Tanger Center and designate donor benefits. It also outlines governance for the facility, creating a nongovernmental, nonprofit board of directors that includes the mayor, the city manager and two city council members, four private donor representatives, and five at-large members. Operations will be initially taken over by the managing director of the Greensboro Coliseum Complex. Starting with the fifth full year of operation, a capital improvement budget for the facility will come from proceeds of the hotel/motel tax, which should keep the facility from falling into disrepair.
"War Memorial Auditorium wasn't maintained well in the past," said Vaughan. "We built capital improvements into the budget this time to make sure we keep Tanger Center in first-class shape."
The design team has already been chosen, with New York-based H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture serving as the design architect, and Atlanta-based Rosser International as the project’s lead architect. Rosser International also designed the ACC Hall of Champions at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex, which opened in 2011.
Sanders said he presented the architects a challenge.
“We found we needed to meet three major types of uses: first and highest was to create a permanent home for our local symphony and opera as well as a speaker series. Also, it needed to be attractive and competitive to attract Broadway shows, and we needed an arrangement that was large and could attract spectaculars,” said Walker. “It’s easy to do two of those things, but challenging to do all three and to do them well.”
He said the designs will look at flexible staging and flooring systems in order to change the size of the room, which will be adjustable from around 3,000 capacity to 2,000.
The CFGG is just in the process of formally getting construction contracts approved and receiving initial renderings, but is looking to break ground in September or October.
There is one thing Walker already knows about the design, though.
“We want it to be iconic and something this community can be very proud of,” he said, adding that he also wants the design to look timeless so it won’t become dated.
There were a few financial steps to make the performing arts center idea a reality.
First, the city said they would contribute $20 million, made up of user fees, ticket fees and taxes, if the private sector would match that number in donations. Once that was achieved, the city offered to buy land for the facility valued at approximately $10 million if the private sector agreed to match the additional $10 million.
In August 2013 the CFGG announced that fundraising has surpassed the $20-million mark and the city purchased seven pieces of adjacent property at a total cost of $10.5 million to create the site for the performing arts center.
The downtown property is next to the Central Library, Historical Museum and Renaissance plaza, about three miles away from the previous location. The new Carolyn and Maurice Le Bauer City Park will also be across the street from the Steven B. Tanger Center for the Performing Arts and plays into the design by including an area for a screen to stream shows on. Both are expected to open March 2016.
Tanger’s contribution brought another challenge — he would give the $7.5-million pledge only if the CFGG could come up with $35 million as opposed to $30 million, inclusive of his donation, by the end of 2013. On Dec.31, 2013, the CFGG announced $35,448,920 raised. Other major gifts include $1 million from VF Corporation and $500,000 from Lincoln Financial Group.
Interviewed for this story: Walker Sanders, (336) 379-9100; Steven Tanger, (336) 292-3010; Nancy Vaughan, (336) 373-2397
