FAYETTEVILLE — It’s official.
An expanded Walton Arts Center will be built in not one, but two locations: A 2,200-seat performance hall in Bentonville and a 600-seat theater on the existing arts center campus on Dickson Street.
“This is a win for Northwest Arkansas, and I think it’s a great win for arts and culture in Northwest Arkansas,” said Peter Lane, the arts center’s president and chief executive officer, during a formal announcement Wednesday moments after the center’s board of directors made the decision.
After months of consideration, the board voted nearly unanimously to create a second arts center campus near downtown Bentonville with what will become its largest performance facility. An exact site there has not been revealed and Bentonville’s proposal was not specific.
An additional 600-seat multipurpose theater will be added to Fayetteville site at 495 W. Dickson to complement the existing 19-year-old, 1,201-seat Baum-Walker Hall and the 175-seat Starr Theater.
Both facilities are contingent upon nailing down an exact location in Bentonville and securing a commitment from Fayetteville to provide adequate parking for the added theater on Dickson.
Arts center staff emphasized the existing facility in Fayetteville will continue to be used as a critical component of the center’s expanded offerings.
Chief Operating Officer Terri Trotter called Baum-Walker Hall the “work horse of what we do,” adding Broadway shows, acts such as the “Blue Man Group,” and orchestral and dance events will still be held there.
The new 2,200-seat auditorium in Bentonville, Trotter said, would bring in shows that need a larger stage or need to sell more than 1,200 seats to provide the guaranteed payment required by shows such as “The Lion King,” Jerry Seinfeld or Bonnie Raitt. The 600-seat theater planned for Fayetteville could host cabaret shows, jazz performances, dance recitals and provide an additional outlet for local organizations such as TheatreSquared or productions by students and faculty at the University of Arkansas, Trotter added.
Wednesday’s announcement comes almost three months the board’s Facilities Committee narrowed potential sites to 15 of the original 25 proposals. Eleven of the 15 were in Benton County. A letter sent to the center in June from the Walton Family Foundation stated the philanthropic arm of the Walmart heirs would be willing to be the lead donor for the project only if it were built in Bentonville.
“It certainly changed the game and it gave a clear point of view in terms of funding and location,” said Jeff Schomburger, chairman of the arts center board.
The proposal jointly submitted by Fayetteville and the University of Arkansas, among other things, offered a parking deck to service the Fayetteville site, raised the possibility of extending between $5 million and $6 million in bonds to help build the 600-seat theater and committed more than $200,000 annually to assist in the operating costs at the center.
Mayor Lioneld Jordan said Wednesday those offers were still on the table even as he expressed disappointment Fayetteville’s detailed proposal didn’t result in the entire expansion happening on Dickson Street.
The mayor said he still believed Fayetteville’s proposal was the most comprehensive, but, he added, “A 600-seat theater is certainly of benefit for all of us.”
Jordan also said a parking deck serving the Dickson Street entertainment district was needed before the city even began talking about an arts center expansion.
The mayor and several dozen other members of the public who attended Wednesday’s announcement were not given the opportunity to comment before the board made its decision. The meeting convened at 4:41 p.m. The board voted at 5:01 p.m.
Bill Waite, arts center board member and Dickson Street Liquor Store owner, cast the only opposing vote.
Waite said he was not prepared to vote on a recommendation by the center’s Facilities Committee without first hearing input from the city, the university and the public.
Board member Greg Lee, who stressed he’s lived his whole life in Fayetteville, said adopting the Fayetteville-Bentonville option “is the right thing in my judgment for us to do. This allows the WAC to grow and prosper.”
“In my mind this is not a compromise but a way to build the arts in Northwest Arkansas, build the arts in Fayetteville and do it in a manner that serves both of those communities very well.”
The need for an expanded arts center was based, in part, on a feasibility study in 2008 by the Arts Consulting Group. The study concluded center’s spaces were being stretched to the limit: Baum-Walker Hall was being used at 95 percent capacity and not all of the events the center wanted to present could be accommodated.
The study also predicted ticket sales would more than double after an expanded arts center’s first year of operation.
The estimated cost for the expansion was more than $180 million. The Walton foundation, however, also advised the family believed the scope of the project was too big.
Lane said Wednesday it was too soon to say how that price tag might change, but, he added, the center will need as much financial support from the Fayetteville and Bentonville communities as possible as it enters a capital campaign.
An opening date for the expanded facilities has not been set. Lane said the next step for the center is to finalize locations and begin design work for the facilities.
Leslie Belden, who served on the task force that put together Fayetteville’s proposal for expansion, said after Wednesday’s announcement, “As a resident, I have mixed feelings. I think it’s fabulous that they’ve approved building the 600-seat facility, but I would have preferred that all of it be built in Fayetteville.”