CENTERVILLE — You can't really call it a groundbreaking because earth work for the Davis Cultural Arts Center has been going on for months.

But it looked like a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday at the construction site, 535 N. 400 West, complete with local dignitaries, speeches and a check for $800,000.

Instead, it was called a construction kickoff, an event officials from Centerville and Bountiful, as well as the future tenants of the center, hope will show to potential investors that the project has begun in earnest — that this isn't a conceptual project.

Davis County commissioners presented a first installment check of $800,000 from funds collected from tourism activities in the county. The money, with future payments totaling $1.2 million, is to be used toward construction.

Financing is also in place, and officials are expecting $500,000 to be raised by the South Davis Performing Arts Association, which will manage the theater once it's complete in late 2010.

To add more reality to the project, the Centerville City Council plans to open bids Tuesday on the structural phase of the project, which includes masonry and steel, said city finance director Blaine Lutz.

If the bids are anything like the first phase, the project stands to save some money.

In early May, the arts center's contractor, Hogan Construction, told city officials that the first phase of bids has come in 7.5 percent below construction estimates.

In April, the center had an estimated cost of $14.4 million. Now, the cost is below $14 million, said Centerville Mayor Ron Russell.

When complete, the center will be the new home of Rodgers Memorial Theatre and will include a 500-seat main-stage theater, rehearsal space and black-box theater for smaller productions.