6/2/04

Town Moves Ahead with Cultural Center Plans
Programming to Drive Center Design

Holly Springs councilmen took the next step toward building a Town cultural center by approving a schematic plan for the building at the June 1 Town Council meeting. During the meeting, councilmen were presented with three options for the building. The options depicted different alternatives for what type of rooms the center would contain and how much space, approximately, those rooms would encompass.

The options were drawn using public input from an online survey and from public meetings about what types of programming residents want offered at the facility.

After considering the different building options, councilmen gave project architect Little Diversified the go-ahead to begin preliminary design work on a 8,900-square-foot center that balances visual and performing arts space and includes two 600-square-foot classrooms and a 1,200-square-foot large meeting room that will hold about 100 people. A balcony above the meeting room will seat about 50 people. The building will also include a large lobby to be used as a gathering space and for art exhibits, receptions and more. Arts storage and a catering kitchen - as well as lighting, sound and theatrical curtains for the meeting room - are also to be included in the $1,513,000 building. Councilmen emphasized the need for all rooms to be able to be used for a variety of activities and also requested the architect to include additional classroom-sized rooms on the second level for the Town’s consideration, in addition to the two classrooms on the lower level.

“The programming that residents want offered in the cultural center is really what drove the different building options we considered,” said Len Bradley, director of the Holly Springs Parks & Recreation Department.

The cultural center is to include programming for seniors; adult, children’s and dinner theater; craft areas for children and adults; co-op programs, such as gardening and home project programs; demonstration programs; art exhibits; receptions; lecture series; dance recitals; movies; concerts; cooking classes; first aid and CPR classes; book signings; children’s story time; and more.

“The cultural center will provide the space for the Town to be able to offer new opportunities and diversify programs,” Bradley said.

Taking the councilmens’ suggestions from the meeting, the project architect now will move forward, sketching designs for the cultural center, and will present the sketches to the Town Council later this summer.

Other cultural center plans presented to the councilmen included a 5,000-square-foot, $800,000 building that councilmen said did not provide adequate space to meet the needs of the Town. Another plan was a larger, 11,200-square-foot, $1,690,000 building that included an additional 600-square-foot ceramics room with high-end equipment.

The cultural center will be built alongside the 8,800-square-foot branch library. The two buildings are expected to share a lobby. Cost estimates for the Wake County library are at $1,288,322. Both the library and the cultural center are to open in 2006 with construction beginning on the buildings this winter or next spring.

Town of Holly Springs - PO Box 8 - 128 South Main Street - Holly Springs, NC 27540 - (919) 552-6221 - Holly.Springs@hollyspringsnc.us