Woodbury arts center misses first deadline

A Woodbury nonprofit group is well short of the $2 million it said it needed to raise by March 1 to build a privately funded arts center addition to East Ridge High School, but it will now have until Dec. 1 to secure funding so the center can still open with the school next fall.

Arts Connection board member Michelle Witte said the group has received about $100,000 in pledges so far but added it could get several major corporate gifts in the next few weeks.

"We have several large donations we've been seeking," she said. "If they're not there, we'd have to wait a year."

Witte said the Dec. 1 deadline would allow construction crews to build the exterior of the arts center along with the school's shell. The two facilities would have been able to share a brick wall if funding had been in place by March 1, but Witte said cost increases would be minor.

"The shell really is three fourths of the building," she said. "We still feel $2 million is a solid number. Right now, the bids are really good."

If funding isn't in place by Dec. 1, however, things could get complicated.

Because the group will not do construction during the school year, it would have to wait until summer 2010 to build the arts center. That would mean bringing in a new construction crew and losing any cost savings from building the center at the same time as East Ridge.

"We're moving on, and continuing to raise money," she said.

The center would add 10,000 square feet of arts space to East Ridge, including a black box theater, art gallery and community theater center, as well as extra classroom and storage space. It would also be used for community productions.

Arts Connection has received a $1.6 million endowment that it will use for operating costs. It could use corporate naming rights to raise construction costs; the group is offering rights to the arts center name for $400,000, the black box theater and community theater center for $250,000 each.