A&P agrees to $500,000 for university venue

A student crosses Garland Avenue before entering the temporary home of the University of Arkansas Fay Jones School of Architecture Monday, Dec. 10, 2012, as students prepare for the end of the fall semester. The school has been housed inside the former field house and future home of a planned performing arts center on the UA campus while work continues to renovate Vol Walker Hall, the school's traditional home.
A student crosses Garland Avenue before entering the temporary home of the University of Arkansas Fay Jones School of Architecture Monday, Dec. 10, 2012, as students prepare for the end of the fall semester. The school has been housed inside the former field house and future home of a planned performing arts center on the UA campus while work continues to renovate Vol Walker Hall, the school's traditional home.

— Fayetteville Advertising and Promotion commissioners pared back a $1 million request from University of Arkansas Chancellor David Gearhart on Monday, voting instead to give the university $500,000 next year for an on-campus concert hall.

Multiple commissioners said $500,000 was more consistent with how much tourism money a 700-seat facility could be expected to generate through hotel, motel and restaurant taxes.

Gearhart said construction will begin on the $17 million concert hall this fall. He said he expects it to take about 18 months to complete.

The concert hall, to be used mainly by the university's music and drama departments, will replace the Old Field House on Garland Avenue just south of Maple Street. The 1938 building is where Razorbacks basketball games used to be played before Barnhill and then Bud Walton arenas were constructed. The Old Field House is currently being used as studio space for university architecture students while renovations to Vol Walker Hall are underway.

In September, Jim and Joyce Faulkner of Little Rock committed $6 million to the project. University officials plan to use private fundraising, reserves and student facilities fees to pay for the remainder.

Advertising and Promotion commissioners on Monday committed to two $250,000 payments in 2013. Their contribution will come out of commission reserves, which Marilyn Heifner, executive director, has estimated at nearly $2 million.

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