Estimate tops $25 million for arts facility

By Wolf Depner - Penticton Western News - April 30, 2008

This artist’s rendering shows the performing arts facility proposed for Nanaimo Avenue and Robinson Street in Penticton. Recent estimates have the cost of the facility reaching $25.3 million. A new performing arts facility could cost an estimated $25.3 million, according to an architectural report co-authored by local firm Meiklejohn Architects.And when all is said and done, it might cost even more. The Penticton and District Performing Arts Facilities Society plans to build the facility at the corner of the Nanaimo Avenue and Robinson Street on city-owned land as part of the newly identified cultural district in the downtown core and the report offers a “more detailed analysis” of the chosen site for what supporters said would be a “state-of-the-art” facility. While the report itself is a bid to secure preliminary design services for the facility, it offers a glimpse into its estimated costs.

“For the purpose of calculating an architectural fee, we used the budget of $19.25 million,” the report states. “We consulted ... and added escalation of another 15 per cent for each year, 2008 and 2009 to arrive at an estimated construction cost of ($25.3 million) for April 2009.” PDPAFS president Don Grant confirmed that number. “The number that (architect) Cal (Meiklejohn) has is an accurate number, but it could be slightly higher when it is all said and done,” he said. While the $25 million figure assumes a scaled-down version of the facility, the group does not want to repeat the mistakes made when the city constructed Cleland Theatre, he said.After price concerns, the city built a smaller, and some would say inferior, facility. The report — co-authored by Proscenium Architecture and Interiors, a Vancouver-based firm with considerable experience in theatre design — reiterates claims from an earlier feasibility study that the chosen site is very well situated and large enough for the proposed facility. Proposed features include a 750-seat main stage and a 150-seat black box studio theatre. The report also confirms discussions that the site could include a “housing component” to address the current shortage of affordable housing.

The report emerges during on-going but perhaps fading discussions about the future shape and scope of performing arts space in the city. “There are still a number of people in the community that don’t see the value of our project,” said Grant in a recent interview. “We feel very strongly that for the South Okanagan region to move ahead in performing arts, we need a new state-of-the-art facility and we’ve been working diligently and will continue to do so to make this a reality.” Another group, the Penticton League of Sensible Electors, is promoting preserving the aging auditorium at Penticton Secondary School as a lower-cost alternative, at least until the money is found for the new centre. PLEASE spokesman Michael Brydon suggested earlier this month that the cost of building a brand-new performing arts facility could spike property taxes 12-15 per cent — a figure which supporters of the new facility have challenged. Grant conceded that the public might not appreciate having higher taxes to cover the costs for construction and maintenance of the new centre. “It’s possible we’ll have to come to the city to ask for some assistance, but we think that if we do have to get funding at the municipal level that the tax increase would be negligible in comparison to what the community can gain,” he said. This debate though, appears to become more academic than concrete. School board officials citing cost concerns recently confirmed their earlier decision to tear down the auditorium as well as the nearby Pen High north gym, as construction of the new Pen High school building proceeds.

“I have fond memories (of the auditorium), as others do,” said trustee Connie Denesiuk. “But the time is now to start looking at the fond memories that will be built by the children of today and tomorrow.” But it is not clear yet how those future memories would be financed. The society has publicly stated that it would fund the construction and operation of the facility with the land coming from the city which recently bought a lot next to the city-owned Nanaimo Hall site. The city will own the facility since it will stand on public land. The society has said that it plans to “leverage” funds from higher levels of government through the lot. But the city also confirmed last year that it — unlike other Okanagan communities — would not make a direction financial contribution to the facility, at least not in the foreseeable future.Kimberley — who left open the possibility that the society could approach the city in the future — said a direct financial contribution from the city was not part of the plan.“They (the society) are fully confident that they can make it on their own,” said Kimberley.
The group plans to raise money from higher levels of government and develop a sustainable business plan. But Kimberley added that citizens will get a say if the city has to step in through a referendum.