New concert hall would change look of Woodruff

A new master plan for the Woodruff Arts Center would demolish part of the 41-year-old building and put a crown jewel on Atlanta’s main street —- a deluxe new concert hall at the corner of Peachtree and 15th streets.

The new hall would sit atop Callaway Plaza, now used for dropoffs and parking at the southern edge of the arts center. The plan requires demolishing some of the center, which houses Symphony Hall, the Alliance Theatre and other facilities.

The proposal is contained in a new 25-year master plan for the arts center. The board of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, a division of the center, approved the plan this week, although a timeline and a price tag have yet to be determined.

In a letter dated Thursday to ASO musicians and major donors and obtained by the Journal-Constitution, ASO vice president for development Paul Hogle wrote: “The vote by the board is a significant and enthusiastic endorsement of the Woodruff Arts Center’s master planning process for the future of the entire campus over the next 25 years. And from the orchestra’s perspective, the context leading to this decision is deeply encouraging.”

The new concert hall would connect directly to the arts center’s cavernous basement, an arrangement that would allow a 2,000-seat hall to fit on the small plaza.

A new ASO concert hall to replace the arts center’s acoustically poor Symphony Hall has been in the works for a decade.

In 2002, the ASO announced plans for a deluxe Symphony Center, with architecture by celebrated Spaniard Santiago Calatrava, for a 3.3-acre site on 14th Street just west of Peachtree and a block from the arts center.

With flamboyant, origami-like architecture topped by a soaring arch, it was billed as “a postcard for Georgia.”

But fund-raisers for the ASO couldn’t meet the $300 million price tag, although $114 million had been raised before the campaign was halted two years ago.

From the start of the Calatrava project, ASO leaders said that public funding —- from state and city government —- would have to cover about a third of the total. That never materialized. The site remains a grassy lot.

With a new location and an economic recession, it’s not known if the new hall’s original donors will still contribute.

ASO officials were eager to talk privately about the plan but said it was up to the arts center leaders to make all official announcements.

The new master plan, developed by Boston-based Sasaki Associates, looked at nine sites for a concert hall, including over MARTA’s Arts Center Station and directly across Peachtree Street from the center.

ASO officials indicated the concert hall’s high-tech interior —- an in-the-round auditorium with a movable ceiling designed for acoustical clarity by Chicago’s Larry Kirkegaard —- is still the core of the project.

Although the ASO has not consulted with Calatrava on the site change, his spokeswoman, Claire Whittaker, said a year ago the architect remained committed to the ASO project, noting that Calatrava is “open to change.”

Among other unknowns: Will donors who contributed to the campus’s main Memorial Arts Building, opened in 1968, object to that building coming down? Where will the ASO and Alliance perform during construction? What will the ASO do with the 3.3-acre parcel of land it owns on 14th Street?

The new master plan comes at time when the ASO, like arts groups across the country, is facing financial hurdles.

The orchestra’s accumulated debt is almost $3 million.

To that end, Hogle’s letter includes a list of hoped-for benefits. The new master plan, he wrote, “provides spaces for education, retail, other new performance venues and for Midtown access, transit and economic development.”

A DECADE OF PLANS

> July 1999: The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation pledges $15 million to build a new $113 million concert hall as part of a new office development at Peachtree and Fifth streets.

> September 1999: Major donors to the project complain that the Fifth Street site is too far from the Woodruff Arts Center campus. Short of a $45 million goal, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra abandons the plan.

> January 2002: The ASO and Hines, a Houston-based developer, announce a six-year master plan calling for two residential towers and a new concert hall at Peachtree and 14th streets.

> June 2002: Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava is selected to design the concert hall.

> December 2002: Hines scales its project down to one office tower, and successfully lures the King & Spalding law firm. ASO insists the new hall will require state and city funds totaling $100 million.

> February 2005: The ASO reveals Calatrava’s proposed design for a monumental white “Symphony Center” capped by an arching “feather.” The Blank Foundation contributes another $20 million toward an estimated $300 million price tag.

> December 2005: The ASO announces it has raised $103 million toward its $300 million goal.

> October 2006: With $111 million raised, Joseph Bankoff, the new chief executive officer of Woodruff Arts Center, puts plans for the proposed hall back on the table.

> May 2007: Yet another possible site comes into play as Bankoff negotiates with MARTA for air rights over the Arts Center station.

> June 2007: Fund-raising for the Symphony Center is halted while Woodruff determines the cost of building at the new planned site.

> March 2009: Woodruff announces a 25-year master plan that includes demolishing part of the existing Arts Center and building a new concert hall at Peachtree and 14th streets.