A&P Commissioners Commit $500,000 for UA Concert Hall

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.

— Advertising and Promotion commissioners pared a $1 million request from University of Arkansas Chancellor David Gearhart to $500,000 for a concert hall.

At A Glance

Commissioner Resigns

Advertising and Promotion Commissioner Hannah Mills tendered her resignation Monday. According to Marilyn Heifner, commission executive director, Mills will be traveling out of the country for an extended period. The remaining six members are scheduled to select a new commissioner at the Jan. 7 meeting. The City Council must approve the selection. All applicants must be the owner or manager of a hotel or restaurant. Mills’ term is set to expire March 31, 2015.

To apply for the position, send email to Heifner at mheifner@twncenter.…, or call 479-521-5776.

Source: Staff Report

Commissioners said a halfmillion dollars was more consistent with how much tourism money a 700-seat venue could be expected to generate.

The estimated $17 million concert hall will be in the renovated Old Field House on Garland Avenue.

Gearhart said Monday he expects construction to begin next fall and take 18 months to complete. Commissioner Justin Tennant, who is also a Ward 3 alderman on the City Council, said he didn’t think the concert hall alone would bring in $1 million in new hotel, motel and restaurant taxes. Half of the 2 percent tax on hotel stays and food purchases is the commission’s main funding source. The commission expects $2.5 million in tax revenue next year.

“I believe we should support, in some way, this item,” Tennant said. “I hope that this brings a whole new sense of cooperation between the city and university and that any time they have what they feel is a cultural help ... they come back here.”

Commissioner Hannah Mills said, as a manager for the Dickson Street Inn, she rarely sees additional bookings coinciding with performances at the 238-seat Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall in the Fine Arts building.

“I’m not sure that I can justify a $1 million donation for something that I’m not even sure is going to bring in heads in (hotel) beds,” Mills said.

The $500,000 is one of the largest contributions the commission has made in its 35 years. Commissioners matched the city’s half-million dollars to improve the square in 2003. Last year, $500,000 was committed to the Arkansas Music Pavilion because its new owner, the Walton Arts Center, wanted to make the AMP a permanent venue outside the Northwest Arkansas Mall. The project didn’t happen, the AMP moved to the Washington County Fairgrounds and the commission did not pay the $500,000.

Commissioner Bob Davis said the dollar amount was negotiable, but that some contribution was needed.

“Whether it’s going to be people playing instruments, choir concerts or whatever: We’re opening up 700 new seats with the opportunity to bring people in to fill those seats, spend a night here and go to the restaurants,” Davis said.

Gearhart said Monday he expected the concert hall to host 175 to 200 performances each year. He said about 40 would feature large ensembles that would bring in more than 600 students, friends, family members and other guests.

According to a study by the university’s Center for Business and Economic Research, 40 sell-out shows would generate between $298,000 and $1.9 million in spending, or between $5,960 and $38,165 per year in new hotel, motel and restaurant tax revenue. Those figures were derived using calculations attributable to Razorback sporting events.

“(The concert hall) will bring more revenue to the commission,” Gearhart said. “It’s all about economic development.”

Commissioners committed to two $250,000 payments in 2013. The money will come out of commission reserve, which Marilyn Heifner, executive director, estimated at nearly $2 million.

Heifner said some money should be kept in reserve for potential projects. She mentioned ballfields in a planned regional park in southwest Fayetteville, a renovation to the Walton Arts Center’s Fayetteville facility and a new home for the Arkansas Music Pavilion.

Gearhart has said university officials plan to use private fundraising, reserves and student facilities fees to pay for the concert hall. In September, Jim and Joyce Faulkner of Little Rock committed $6 million to the project.

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