Frisco | June 2022

ARTS FISD, City Council consider increased costs, seating options for performing arts center at Hall Park

TAKING A SEAT The city, Frisco ISD and Hall Park are collaborating on a performing arts center. The chart below shows the ideal number of seats needed for various performances. Current options could accommodate FISD and community groups and limited types of commercial performances.

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BY MIRANDA JAIMES

$179.5 million and $197.7 million, and a 1,750-seat venue would cost between $198.8 million and $223.3 million. The cost estimate difference between 1,250 seats and 1,500 seats was about $10 million, which the city’s partner Hall Park had pledged to the project, Mayor Jeff Cheney said. The mayor said 1,500 seats would be the minimum needed for the project to be a commercial success for Hall Park. “Then to get to the next step, 1,500 [seats] expandable including a private club is another $10 million, and that version is probably the one that you can actually fundraise and sell sponsorships for and a vision for. So ... that would actually be the cheapest of the three options,” Cheney said. He acknowledged, however, that funding still needs to be determined, and staff agreed. Deputy City Manager Ron Patterson suggested the next steps would be to

fundraising efforts. But the project cost could be more than double. In the May 9 presentation to the FISD board of trustees, Joe Haver, principal and commercial co-sector leader at Corgan, the project architect, said more than 93% of all material costs have experienced a change in the past 12 months. “These numbers are a lot different than what we had talked about,” Deputy Superintendent Todd Fouche said at the FISD meeting. At its work session, City Council examined what it would take to build a 1,500-seat performance venue with the ability to expand that space to 1,750 seats in the future. A presentation outlined cost estimates for several different seat counts at the perfor- mance hall. Based on cost increases, a 1,250-seat venue would cost between $169.2 million and $190.5 million. A 1,500-seat venue would cost between

Financial hurdles need to be overcome for a planned performing arts center in Frisco. Survey findings for the performing arts center were presented at a Frisco City Council work session May 17 and a May 9 Frisco ISD board meeting that included cost estimates and a space analysis of the facility. Early agreements among FISD, the city of Frisco and Hall Park specified a $67 million performing arts center at Hall Park at Gaylord and Warren parkways that would include a 1,250- to 1,500-seat performance hall and an additional community theater. The school district designated $43 million for the project from a 2018 bond. The remaining funds would come in the form of $14 million from the city and $10 million from Hall Group founder Craig Hall. Additional funds toward the project also stemmed from private

USER GROUPS

SEAT VENUE SIZE

1.25K

2K 1.5K 1.75K

Frisco ISD/ community groups B- and C-level commercial performances*

1.25K

2K 1.5K 1.75K

*Examples: “Waitress” “Rocketman”

A-level commercial performances**

1.25K

2K 1.5K 1.75K

**Examples: “Wicked,” “Hamilton”

SOURCE: CITY OF FRISCO/ COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER

meet with the school district and Craig Hall of Hall Park to “get everybody on the same page.” Brooklynn Cooper contributed to this report.

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