Residents packed the house at Sandy Springs City Hall on July 24 to look over options for a performing arts center in the city.
Longtime Sandy Springs residents Carol and Andy Heyward, who served on the Committee for Sandy Springs, a group instrumental in incorporating the city, said they were all for a performing arts center in the city.
Carol Heyward said they are season ticket holders for the Lyric Theatre in Marietta, where they will usually eat dinner before a show. “I’d much rather go to a show and eat at a restaurant here,” she said, adding that she lives about a mile from the future city center site.
Fran Farias, a Rotary Club of Sandy Springs officer, said she is “pro” performing arts center. “I think having an event-type facility in the city of Sandy Springs is critical,” she said.
On July 23, city center master developers and planners presented three performing art center theater options with differing seat counts. The presentation included small, medium and large stages, each with seating sizes of 600, 800 and 1,000, and what each scenario could accommodate.
The planners presented the options based on a feasibility study by Johnson Consulting that recommended a 750- to 1,000 seat facility that also included meeting space.
John Jokerst, with Carter/Selig, the city center master developer, gave a rundown of building costs associated with each scenario, which could range anywhere from $24 million to $42.6 million. Final costs including the addition of meeting space, offices, parking and road improvements is estimated to be $169.3 million to $196.6 million.
To view the presentation, visit the city’s website here.
Comments are closed.