The Old Field House building on the UA campus could be converted into a 600- to 700-seat performing arts center.
Todd Gill, Fayetteville Flyer
The Walton Arts Center’s expansion plans became a little more clear on Tuesday, after the results of an almost year-long study were presented to the board of directors at a meeting inside Nadine Baum Studios.
Arts center officials commissioned the study from Schuler Shook, Webb Management, and Venue Cost Consulting last spring after the decision to build a large performance hall in Bentonville and a smaller hall in Fayetteville was announced in December 2010.
The consultants validated the need for the Bentonville hall as well as a new Fayetteville venue, but it appears that should a 600-seat theater be built in Fayetteville, it will likely be owned and operated by the University of Arkansas.
The study also recommended $20 million in renovations to the current Dickson Street facility.
UA takes over the 600-seat venue plans
Walton Arts Center CEO Peter Lane said early results of the Schuler Shook study indicated that the University of Arkansas, which operates in a partnership with the arts center, was in need of their own additional performing arts center instead of continuing to use the Dickson Street facility for music rehearsals and other university performances.
Upon receiving that news, university officials in August requested that the consultants look into the possibility of renovating a current space on campus. Consultants determined that the Old Field House could be converted into a 600- to 700-seat theater for $15 to 20 million.
“Right now the only thing we have other than the Walton Arts Center is the Stella Boyle Smith Hall and that is a venue of about 300 seats,” UA chancellor David Gearhart told the Walton Arts Center board Tuesday. “It was built 60 years ago for a student population of about 5,000 students. We are now approaching 25,000, so it’s just woefully inadequate for our needs.”
The field house building is situated between the Arkansas Union and Silas Hunt Hall, and was built in the 1930s. The building was originally a basketball gymnasium, and has since been a concert venue, a museum, and most recently, a swing space for the architecture program during the current construction project at Vol Walker Hall.
Gearhart said the university doesn’t currently have the funds for the renovation project, but that he has some ideas about how it could be raised.
“We do not have the money to do it, however, we are in the process of talking with some folks about whether or not they would want to help us with that project,” he said. “I can tell you that it has received a lot of enthusiastic support from our faculty in our college of Arts & Sciences who really need more space.”
Gearhart said he expects the space will primarily be used for university music department performances, and that it will also be made available to the Walton Arts Center, as well as to the City of Fayetteville.
If the project is approved by the UA Board of Trustees, Gearhart estimated it would take about a year to complete.
Renovations of the Fayetteville campus
The Schuler Shook study recommended extensive renovations to the Walton Arts Center’s current Fayetteville location on Dickson Street.
“Upgrades to the existing Fayetteville facilities are critical,” consultant Bob Shook told the board. “The front-of-house areas are really inadequate, both for standard performances, and even more so for the potential for corporate events…Second reason, back-of-house facilities are very restricted.”
An expanded lobby, larger dressing rooms, additional restrooms, and new lighting are some of the recommended upgrades to the current facility.
“Once a new theater gets built in Bentonville, this theater is going to start looking a little bit old and dowdy,” Shook said. “We don’t want this to be the poor cousin.”
Shook estimated that the total cost of the Fayetteville renovations would be about $20 million, and could be complete as early as 2016.
Bentonville theater update
The study indicates that a 2,000-seat venue will suffice in Bentonville, instead of the originally proposed 2,200 seats.
A 200-seat education theater should also be included, as well as an art gallery, and a lobby with space for a donor lounge to accommodate 100 people, the study suggests.
Shook estimated that the Bentonville construction would cost about $160 million, with a $20 million endowment recommended to help cover costs. If everything goes according to plan, the new facility will be open in 2018.
Arkansas Music Pavilion update
Lane told the board Tuesday that he was pleased with the recently acquired temporary home of the Arkansas Music Pavilion at the Washington County Fairgrounds.
Extra parking, access to I-540, and the potential to accommodate larger audiences are all advantages to the new location, Lane said.
The AMP will host about 15 shows this season, four of which have already been announced.
Lane said that the search for a longterm solution for the AMP is ongoing.
“I think the only thing that I can tell you right now is that we are Fayetteville focused, that we would like to be in Fayetteville, and that is our goal,” he said.
Executive summary of Schuler Shook study
Sounds good to me. Sure feels a lot better walking into a big money project with a third party study validating costs, economic impact, comparable structures, and something resembling a long term project justification. There’s a 10 year plan in there for expected activity and operating expenses as well.
I believe we should adopt the same study model for future city funded expansion projects. Excuse me while I whack this old dead horse Municipal Parking Deck over here…
And town folks would park where for this auditorium on campus?
maybe the parking deck?
Chancellor Gearhart addressed this at the meeting. He mentioned the union parking deck and the Garland parking deck as nearby options. He also said he anticipates the performances will mostly take place at nights and on weekends which are off hours for car commuting students.
So Fayetteville no longer needs a new deck downtown?
2018!? Did they contract ‘Doozers’ to build the new PAC?
Matt: It’s not even designed yet; heck they haven’t even hired an architect and they don’t have the money yet. The design and permitting process can be expected to take nearly two years and construction about two more, so even if they started design TODAY, they couldn’t break ground until mid-2014 and be complete late 2017, so even opening 2018 is really ambitious.
So, we’re paying for parking (and for the parking meters) for exactly what reason, now?
So, weren’t there A&P funds committed to building the smaller theater by Fayetteville? Or am I remembering that incorrectly? Seems like something like $5 million committed to that project once the Town Center bonds wore off. I could be hallucinating all of this. IF SO, then I hope Fayetteville will put those A&P funds into beautification/improvements projects elsewhere in the city. I hope they put some towards College Avenue, and the city really needs to study relocating that power substation downtown. That property being redeveloped would eventually pay for the city’s investment. Plus, no more powerlines across Dickson….
I don’t think they put the funds towards that. If I remember correctly it would have to pass te A&P, the council and then a vote by the people. I know there was talk about it though.
That idea was proposed in April, further discussed in May, put on hold in June, delayed again in July, and was never again mentioned in any A&P meetings, likely because August is when the university asked Schuler Shook to look at renovating the Old Fieldhouse.
Thanks. I thought they had discussed it at least.
FF said: “Lane told the board Tuesday that he was pleased with the recently acquired temporary home of the Arkansas Music Pavilion at the Washington County Fairgrounds.”
So, the WAC board purchased the AMP without a lease agreement with the NWA Mall in hand. Brilliant! Was this matter discussed beforehand? By the way, how much did the WAC pay for the AMP? Anyone know?
I’m not sure which entity is more incompetent, the A&P or the WAC board. Where’s the accountability?
The board did discuss what would happen if they purchased the AMP and a lease agreement fell through.
As for how much WAC paid for the AMP, I have no idea.
I’m all for the University working closely with the WAC. Maybe the University could carve off a few acres of their farm for a permanent Fayetteville location of the AMP….
Cobb and catalog. Benton County will soon be ‘wet.”
The old fieldhouse is a really cool old Gothic building that has been neglected and doesn’t stand out. It will be nice to see it re-purposed and shined up like new:
http://livingnewdeal.berkeley.edu/map/pictures/800px-olduafieldhouse.jpg
Didn’t it used to be a museum? I vaguely recall going on a field trip there when I was in 6th grade.
It did formerly house the University museum.
i agree. i think this will be a really great addition to campus and fayetteville in general. i love how the u of a is fixing up some of the old, beautiful buildings on campus.
Comment removed. See our policy.
Woah, somebody is angry…
Yeah, I do know what I’m talking about. The building is a brick rendition of Collegiate Gothic architecture. I guess you don’t know what you’re talking about, though.
Take a look at the picture I posted. Notice the “castle” type masonry on the sides? It is designed in the same vein as Gregson Lodge and Gibson, and the older limestone buildings in the campus core.
Its a cool old building, and when it has the right doors and windows and some updates, it will be quite a good-looking venue.
Wow.. Hey now.. No need to name call… I suggest you check out the flyer’s no name calling policy, its clearly listed in their “privacy policy”, page 14, article 12, section 35, verse 8, under.. “No Name Calling”… It clearly says “No Name Calling”
I learned the hard way that us adults (and maybe some educated children or teenagers) can have an in depth, and sometimes heated discussion pertaining to our society, without the use of profanity or name calling. As ol’ Miss Gump once said “Stupid is a stupid does”… Instead of idiot, I think the preferred nomenclature is “less informed”
I would just like to point out that the Field House has been occupied by the Arkansas Center for Space and Planetary Sciences since 2003. The research group, which includes 20 graduate students and several NASA funded labs, has moved to the lower levels of the building to accommodate the architecture school while their building is renovated; thus, the architects and the Space Center are both currently occupying the building. In fact, the sign in the lower left corner of the image included with this article clearly advertises their presence there. Though I know most of the articles related to this topic have not included the Space Center in their list of current occupants nor what is to become of them if the building is indeed renovated, I would ask that you correct this article. Thank you.
What has been ignored in all of the articles I have read so far: The Research Center for Space and Planetary Sciences also currently resides in the field house/old museum. When the architecture department moved into the building, our whole program got pushed to the basement. The planetarium that occupied the top floor (old gymnasium floor) was torn down. Might I add that the planetarium was built by the hard work of the graduate students, out of a silo and plaster. The planetarium was also used for undergraduate labs for the Survey of the Universe course offered to between 200-300 students every semester! It has been a significant inconvenience without it.
As stated by Gearhart above, “I can tell you that it has received a lot of enthusiastic support from our faculty in our college of Arts & Sciences who really need more space.”
I WISH THE FACULTY AND COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES WERE ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT ACADEMIA!!
What happened to putting academia before entertainment?????
I think the reporters that wrote this story get a “D” for poor research. As the sign in front of the Old Field House states, it’s home to the Arkansas Center for Space and Planetary Sciences. They do NASA funded research, and appreciate art, so are much much cooler than plain ol’ artists :p