Consultants support Utah Performing Arts Center plan

SALT LAKE CITY — A new theater capable of hosting first-run touring Broadway shows would complement Salt Lake City's arts district, not compete with other downtown venues, according to theater officials in other U.S. cities.

Consultants from Denver, Durham, N.C., and Dayton, Ohio, visited Salt Lake City this week to lend their experience to Mayor Ralph Becker's plan to build a state-of-art theater in the heart of downtown.

Officials representing performing arts venues in the three cities joined Becker for a community forum Wednesday evening at the Salt Lake City Main Library to share how new theaters have changed their communities for the better.

"As we continue to move forward with this exciting project, there are many lessons we can garner from other cities that have recently grown their cultural opportunities with new performing arts space," Becker said.

The three consultants represent ventures where a new theater was part of downtown revitalization projects and where those venues have become assets in promoting economic development.

Ken Neufeld, president and CEO of the Victorian Theater Association and operator of the Benjamin & Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center, said the venue has become "a point of pride" in Dayton.

"We were the last piece of an urban development strategy," Neufeld said of the Schuster Center. "We finished (a redevelopment) of a lot of downtown that was abandoned. We were the final piece of the puzzle."

The Schuster Center boasts an operating budget of $19.4 million in revenue for 2011-12, with much of that due to its ability to attract first-run touring Broadway shows, Neufeld said.

"Broadway determines our bottom line," he said.

In 2008, Becker announced plans to build the Utah Performing Arts Center at approximately 135 S. Main, just south of the City Creek project. Current estimates project the theater would cost $100 million to build, plus another $10 million to $20 million for related site improvements.

"That block in the heart of our downtown … has been relatively inactive now for decades," Becker said.

The Utah Performing Arts Center, he said, would be a catalyst for development and an activity generator for downtown.

"With the opening of City Creek (in March 2012), this location needs a catalyst," Becker said.