Davis arts center to seek private funding

CENTERVILLE — Critics of the coming Davis Cultural Arts Center have complained that the project is funded entirely by taxpayers.

That's true, says Centerville Mayor Ron Russell, but many similar arts projects — including Abravanel Hall and Hale Centre Theatre — were funded by taxpayers, as well.

Money for the Davis Cultural Arts Center is being generated by a recreation, arts and parks sales tax imposed in Bountiful and Centerville specifically for the project. That means that 0.1 percent of every purchase in those two cities goes toward construction.

Davis County has offered to chip in $2 million generated from three tourism-related taxes imposed on hotel rooms, restaurants and vehicle rentals. And about half of the money that will be used to pay off future bonds for the project is coming from property taxes at the site that will be funneled back into the project, a practice known as tax-increment financing.

Without those sources of funding, the project wouldn't be happening.

And Russell hopes bonding and rating agencies will see the project as having regional support because of the funding sources.

On Monday, officials learned about the center manager's plan for raising money from foundations and from the public, a piece of the puzzle that has been sought after with no luck yet.

The Davis Performing Arts Association, which currently runs Rodgers Memorial Theatre in Centerville, is planning a strategic marketing campaign that starts quietly to attract donors in advance of the project's completion. Eventually, the campaign will crescendo nearer to the theater's opening to attract season ticket sales.

Kevin Ellis, fundraising project manager, said he plans to raise $1 million by the time the center opens in 2011.

Half of that money will be committed to construction of the building. The other half will be split between the cost of operations at Rodgers Memorial and development funds for marketing and readying the new center.

Officials overseeing the construction of the Davis Cultural Arts Center expect to begin receiving bids on the project's first construction phase in the next week.

With any luck, bids will keep with current construction trends and come in below estimates. The building's current estimated cost is $14.4 million.

Russell said that he and other officials on the center's administrative control board will strive to live within their means for construction, which may mean limiting certain niceties.

Already, the site, located near 400 West and Parrish Lane in Centerville, has been loaded with tons of dirt to compress the soil underneath in order to squeeze out excess groundwater. By mid-May, construction managers expect to begin excavating the site, and by mid-June they plan to pour footings.

If everything goes according to plan, the center, complete with 500-seat main-stage theater, rehearsal space and black-box theater for smaller productions, will be finished in October 2010.

E-MAIL: jdougherty@desnews.com