When Mayors Buddy Dyer and Rich Crotty announced a pact this fall to build a downtown performing-arts center, longtime advocates of the project were relieved.
The arts center, everybody said, is a done deal.
But those working on the project are just getting started. Hunting down tens of millions of dollars to help build and sustain the center is just one of the tasks looming.
Lots of decisions have yet to be made on the project, which city staffers estimate will cost $389 million. Neither Orlando nor Orange County commissioners have approved the agreement between the two that would allow the center to be built. And the nonprofit group Orlando Performing Arts Center, or OPAC, is figuring out what its arrangement with the city will be.
Even many apparent certainties about the performing-arts-center project are a shade short of certain. Here are some issues that OPAC backers are working out:
Location. The center is expected to be built on 9 acres bordered by Orange and Rosalind avenues and South and Anderson streets, just east of Orlando's City Hall. Although Dyer asked OPAC to consider building at the Centroplex, west of Interstate 4, the board rejected that idea for the long-favored site at the southern end of Magnolia Avenue.
Kathy Ramsberger, OPAC's executive director, calls it "the 100 percent site" -- it's in the heart of downtown, convenient for downtown workers and residents, close to parking garages and can be expected to spur other development.
Several buildings exist on that land, including the city's Fire Station 1, long slated to be relocated, and the round office building, where OPAC's offices are, across from City Hall. Both buildings would be torn down.
A thornier obstacle is the First United Methodist Church's Ministries and Education Building, where a multimillion-dollar renovation is under way. Ramsberger and OPAC board members have been in delicate discussions with church personnel to try to satisfy both groups.
One alternative would be for OPAC to include the church's needed 55,000 square feet in a new building on the arts-center campus.
"Our goal since day one was that they would be willing to be part of our campus," Ramsberger said.
Church spokeswoman Laura Guitar, of the public-relations firm Fry Hammond Barr, said the church can't consider any alternatives until it knows for sure that OPAC wants the land -- and whether it would be negotiating with OPAC or the city.
Site plan. One question, which Ramsberger, OPAC President Jim Pugh and many others are busy trying to refine, is what exactly their project will be. Current plans call for a 2,800-seat theater for amplified plays and concerts, a 1,800-seat acoustical theater, a 300-seat theater and a public plaza facing City Hall.
Included on the site plan also are proposals for a 200-room hotel, an office tower for the development company CNL and two more office or condo towers.
Income from that commercial development is expected to help OPAC sustain itself.
Architects. Two architectural firms -- Barton Myers Associates of Los Angeles and Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects (EE&K) of New York -- have been involved in the project's early stages, developing the arts center's preliminary plans far enough so OPAC and its partners could draw up an estimated budget.
The goal, Ramsberger said, is to hire both firms to do the project's actual designs -- Myers for the buildings and EE&K for the master plan. A third firm, probably from Orlando, would be named the project architect to oversee construction. Still, city and county requirements for transparency in the hiring process could change some of those plans. Another major question remaining is what the center will look like. Assuming Myers gets the building-design job, neither he nor anyone else has revealed any designs.
Tenants. One known quantity is the identity of the arts center's major tenants. Three are among the city's homegrown professional arts groups: the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orlando Opera and the Orlando Ballet. Two others, Florida Theatrical Association and the Festival of Orchestras, present touring plays and orchestras from around the world.
The complex's smallest theater could serve some of Central Florida's smaller performing-arts groups. Some of those groups are interested. Kelli Cummins, executive director of Voci Dance, said she hopes Voci will be able to afford to rehearse at the center, to perform there or both.
"I hope it embraces everyone in the community," she said.
At Mad Cow Theatre, general manager Mitzi Maxwell said her group, too, might be interested in using a small theater if its design is right. A 300-seat theater might help Mad Cow grow its audience, which is now served by two tiny theaters, one seating 100 people and one seating 40 to 60.
Programming. Deciding what kinds of entertainment will fill the three halls and the outdoor plaza is fairly far down the road, Ramsberger said.
To get an idea of the programming, she said, audience members might check out the widely varied options at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, where upcoming performances include the Kirov Orchestra, tap-dancer Savion Glover, and Christian singer Michael W. Smith. Another arts center whose programming Ramsberger mentions is the Cerritos Center in suburban Los Angeles, where acts are booked to appeal to many cultures.
Fate of the Bob Carr. Another question that won't be decided for a while is what will happen to the 80-year-old Carr Performing Arts Centre. Many arts lovers have complained about Carr for years, and OPAC chief Pugh jokes that he would like to see the place blown up. But a city task force is trying to determine how the 60-acre Centroplex site and its buildings could be used. Ramsberger said she hopes the city will keep the Carr and use it for programming that complements OPAC's.
Source of funds. Before any of that is decided, though, the arts center's 22-member board will remake itself to concentrate on fundraising. Of the $389 million price tag, more than $250 million is expected to come from public funding -- tourist-tax refunds, state sales taxes and a property-tax district downtown.
Pugh is fairly confident that fundraisers can come up with $100 million from private donors. The difference, he said, could come from the state, the city or the county -- or it also would have to be raised privately.
The only remaining option, he said, would be to scale back the plans, which would mean cutting back on the sizes of the arts center's theaters. That's a decision OPAC can put off -- for the time being. Project backers expect to determine the theaters' actual sizes within six months.