Curtain closes on old look at LR music hall

Officials hand over center for $68 million renovation

Mark Beach, vice president and chief operating officer with CDI Contractors, removes a board from the Robinson Center’s stage floor after a ceremony in Little Rock on Tuesday. The auditorium and meeting hall, built in 1939, is closed for a 26-month renovation.
Mark Beach, vice president and chief operating officer with CDI Contractors, removes a board from the Robinson Center’s stage floor after a ceremony in Little Rock on Tuesday. The auditorium and meeting hall, built in 1939, is closed for a 26-month renovation.

City leaders hosted a farewell to the outdated interior and theater amenities of the 75-year-old Robinson Center on Tuesday as contractors officially took over the grounds to begin a $68 million renovation.

When doors to the entertainment venue and meeting hall open to the public again in 26 months, it will be an entirely new place, with an added conference room and banquet hall overlooking the Arkansas River; improved seating, lighting and acoustics; and an upgraded stage.

Voters approved using a portion of the revenue from the city's 2 percent hospitality tax to repay bonds over a 30-year period to fund the project. Capi Peck, who spearheaded the Restore Robinson campaign and is on the Little Rock Advertising and Promotion Commission, told Tuesday's crowd that gathered in the performance hall that the improvements were long overdue and that the end result will be a "perfect blend of old and new."

"Everything that happens here has a tremendous economic impact on Little Rock and central Arkansas," Peck said. "Tourism is a booming industry, and the new and improved Robinson Center is sure to bring thousands upon thousands of visitors to events and conferences in the new conference center."

She and others reminisced about their time at the Robinson Center; Peck said she saw her first ballet performance of The Nutcracker there.

Gretchen Hall, president and chief executive officer of the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau, said her mother played high school basketball in the Exhibit Hall on the lower level; she graduated high school on the performance stage; and she watched her niece perform in The Nutcracker there.

"Robinson Center means so much to us individually and as a community as a whole," Hall said. "That's why when we began on this path to renovation, it was so important for us to restore this space and keep it as an icon, but still provide all the amenities we need for future growth and future entertainment."

The entrance off Markham Street will keep the grand staircase and large column design, but be restored.

The major changes will be to the performance hall. The theater stage will be lowered 30 feet to ground level, allowing for tiered seating that is closer to the stage. This will improve sight lines and acoustics, Hall said.

Boxed seating will wrap the side walls, and two balconies will be installed. There will also be an orchestra pit to allow orchestras to perform from inside the audience chamber, something that couldn't be done before.

The lower-level conference center will be relocated to the north side of the venue and feature glass walls that allow visitors to overlook the river. The center will be fully handicap-accessible and will obtain a lower level Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Officials on Tuesday referred to the new Robinson Center as "the most important destination project since the Bill Clinton library" and the "western anchor of our downtown environmental district."

Gov. Mike Beebe applauded the investment downtown in the River Market District and now on South Main Street, and said that the renewed Robinson Center will add to that momentum.

"It wasn't that long ago that downtown was dead. We saw the demise of Main Street, and we heard all the people who lamented the loss of those cultural icons that were part of their childhood. But to see it come back in a fashion and way that meets the new model for urban revitalization and particularly downtown revitalization has been extremely gratifying. ... Robinson anchors this end [of Markham Street] and everything from here on down has become a showplace. This is another step toward making it even better," Beebe said.

Barbra Streisand's "The Way We Were" played as old black-and-white photos were shown of the Robinson Center's construction in 1939. Other photos were of various ballet performances, Broadway plays, dances and conventions that have taken place at the venue since then. Elvis Presley performed the first recorded performance of "Hound Dog" at the auditorium on May 16, 1956.

Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola, city directors, Beebe, Hall and other officials donned gray construction hats as they pulled up boards on the performance stage to signify the start of construction.

Metro on 07/02/2014

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